Reversus Patria
by Batsojopo
Summary: The Cylons have found out that the Terrans aren't so easily intimidated. This is a sequel to Faoi Dheireadh.
1. Chapter 1

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 1  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Prologue**_

'I still don't understand why you're asking me about this.'

'Lord Alistar, I want to know about what happened from your recollections of your parents talking about. That will never be known unless you or your brother and sister decide to talk about it.' The journalist paused before asking, 'Now, are you sure about what happened?'

'Only as good as my memory is, and it's been failing as of late. Plus, what you've been asking me about happened over eighty years ago, I wasn't even around at the time,' he commented in amusement.

'Obviously,' she smiled as she gathered up her things. 'My Lord, I'd like to ask you some more questions at a later time, hopefully to jog your memories more.'

'That's fine,' he commented with a smile. Even though he had servants who could do the job, he found it pleasing in his own way to actually escort the Avalonian journalist to the door. Alistar watched her get into her personal shuttle. Only when the engine had started the shuttle lifted into the sky did he back away and close the door.

As he went back into the study he stopped in front of the formal picture of his parents wedding reception. The two figures were surrounded by family and friends who were now long gone. There had never been a formal ceremony, just a quick civil one. He continued out loud, "Mum, Papa: she wants us to tell her your stories. I hope you don't mind. . ."

_**Chapter One**_

Admiral Jeremiah Orbach looked at the screen once again. Being an admiral was one thing, taking over Dolohov's position was something completely different. He was not looking forward to the increased responsibility it entailed. But, orders were orders.

It had all started with the surprise appearance of a refugee fleet, fleeing from certain destruction. No one ever expected the events that quickly followed. In less than a year they had been drug into a conflict that wasn't their own doing. It had remindeded Jeremiah of how the USA had been drawn into World War II, but only marginally.

With the former refugees now settled, everyone now had a chance to take a deep breath and back away from the brewing conflict. With Dolohov's death, though, he found himself in a position he had not completely worked for. True, he was one of the admirals, but he had never wanted ultimate control of the fleet. He had it now whether he wanted it or not. Plus, the Admiralty seemed to think he had the stuff it took to command the fleet.

That wasn't the only reason why he wasn't looking forward to leading the whole fleet. He had to think more about the future than ever before. Orbach's eyes strayed towards the holographic image he had placed on the desk. It was of an image captured over fifteen years ago at some sort of formal gathering. It was the first time he had gotten up the nerve to ask then Lieutenant Commander Mair O'Neill out to anything besides an innocent lunch at the officer's mess. Even at that time she had shown strong signs of being a brilliant tactician. For a moment he fingered his ring. It was the only piece of jewelry he wore on a consistent basis.

And now? He had the future to think about. What really bothered him was that he might not make it back from the front lines.

Orbach sighed while rubbing his face. For once, he wanted to be back at home and not chasing after the Cylons.

'Admiral?' Lieutenant Commander Erbe opened the door and poked her head through.

'Yes, Commander?' he made himself to look busy.

'I have just received word that the latest group of wounded are now on their way back to the closest fleet hospital.' The petite aide pushed further into his office. Once she was within arms reach, she handed over a datastick.

'Thank you.' He fingered the stick for a moment before dismissing the younger woman. A few minutes more passed before he plugged the stick into the computer. He needed to see who was being sent back before the hospital ship was out of range of regular communications.

After Admiral Dolohov was killed, Orbach had found himself swamped with paperwork. Which was another reason why he wished he weren't the fleet admiral. 'Okay, who's going back on this trip,' he muttered as he pulled up the file. Orbach already had a pretty good idea from the captains that had reported in. This would be the official report that would be sent back to the Admiralty, and be released to the public once the family members had been notified.

One of the first names that caught his attention was one of the Colonials; _Aurorians_ he mentally corrected himself. He had already sent word back to the Admiralty and the Aurorian government about Felix Gaeta, but this other one was somewhat a surprise. Orbach looked for the reasons the officer was being sent back. The CMO of the _Yorktown_ had reported that she was being sent back because of a non-combat condition.

Orbach sat back for a moment. The only reason that terminology was used was if the officer had somehow gotten pregnant. It takes two to tango, and he had a pretty good idea who the other officer was. 'At least they kept it quiet,' he muttered as he leaned forward to take a look at the other officers listed.

As he closed out the file, he noticed another, much smaller one with his name on it. Opening it up, he was surprised to find a bilingual document. It was from Admiral Adama telling him that he was sending another officer, a Captain Kelly, to replace Major Gaeta. Until he knew what the new officer was like, he was going to have him stationed here, on the _Invincible_.

* * *

Captain Angela Glennan looked out the window in one of the observation lounges on the hospital ship but wasn't paying any attention to what she was seeing. She hadn't even bothered to find out the name of the ship she was on, either. The only reason she was there in the first place was because Felix had attempted to convince her to keep the child. He'd done a good job at it, too. Now, however, all she could see was her situation and how it messed everything up. What surprised her was when Felix had asked her if she had even considered his thoughts on the situation. 

She had to admit that she had not even begun to think about that. The thing was, she hadn't even considered her thoughts about the pregnancy and what she really thought about the whole situation. Just the look on his face had made her remember the devastating loss his people suffered. Now? His people were jumping at the chance of increasing the population. Word had filtered through to them out on the front lines that Aurora City was just on the cusp of a baby boom.

Angela picked up the glass of water that she had placed on the table beside her. Once Baker had found out about her condition he put her on a strict diet. Which meant no alcohol. And if she decided to nurse the child, then she'd have to stay clean even during that time.

It's not like she drank on a regular basis, but still. Not even being able to have a glass of wine sucked majorly. She fingered the glass before taking a sip of the clear liquid. Technically she could have non-alcoholic wine, but why would you want to do that, she mused. If you're going to drink wine, it should have alcohol in it.

'Captain Glennan?' One of the techs stepped into the room.

With her back to the door, she inclined her head towards him, letting him know that she was listening.

'We've finished settling in Major Gaeta. You can go in now.'

With a quiet grunt she got to her feet and retrieved the half empty glass. 'I don't see why I should be out here,' she grumbled. 'I do know what he looks like.'

'That may be so, but it's standard operating procedure. Plus, we like to allow all our patients have as much dignity as possible.'

Angela's shoulders dropped slightly. 'I know,' she sighed. She had also been given the same treatment while she was in the hospital.

The unnamed tech nodded. 'Captain, if you will follow me?' He took a step back and then towards the door. She followed him out of the lounge and into the corridors. In a short time she found herself being lead down a corridor of private rooms. For a moment she was surprised, then not so surprised, remembering that Felix was slowly recovering from another concussion. With his specific injuries it was best that he had a private room.

They stopped in front of a door. 'Here?' she indicated.

'Yes.' The tech hesitated a moment before continuing down the corridor. When he turned down another hallway Angela looked back to the door, then quickly drank the last of the water in the glass. With a slight smile she opened the door. The smile, though, disappeared almost as quickly as it had come. His room was dark. That could only mean one thing; he was suffering through another concussion-induced migraine. 'You all right?' she asked softly as she closed the door behind her.

'Does it look like it?' Gaeta muttered.

The only light in the room came from the computers that constantly monitored his vitals signs. It gave off just enough light for her to see the empty chair beside his bed. 'No,' she answered softly as she approached the bed. The one good thing was that he was sitting up. Angela placed the now empty glass on the night stand before sitting down. 'They told me that we're already on our way back.'

At about the same time the door opened once again spilling bright light into the darkened room.

"Frak!" Gaeta ground out as he covered his face with his good arm.

'Major, I won't have the light on for very long.' The doctor, Glennan hadn't even bothered to find out her name, quickly moved across the room and towards the bed.

'Don't care,' he muttered.

'As soon as I'm finished, I'll get you something to help with your headache.'

The wounded officer sighed. 'All right,' he muttered.

For Angela, the whole thing seemed to last forever. It was one thing to suffer through the pain an injury causes, but something entirely different when it was someone else. When the doctor was finally finished, including the painkiller, she made sure that the lights were turned back off. 'You said s-something before the doctor came in?' he asked tiredly.

'Only that we're on our way back.' She sat back down in the chair.

With each passing minute his responses were slowing down. It looked more like sleep than anything else, but Glennan wasn't that sure. 'Hospital ship?' he mumbled.

Before she gave him any type of answer, she reached over and took the hand control to call the nurses desk.

_'Nurse's desk.'_

'Yes, Major Gaeta seems to be falling asleep?' she asked worried.

After a moment's hesitation the voice answered, _'Yes, that's a normal reaction to the medication. It'll help him relax while the migraine is relieved.'_

'Who was that?'

'The nurse. He said that the medication he gave you for your headache will also help you relax.'

''kay,' he mumbled. Minutes later he was asleep once again.

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 2  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh

Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Two**_

Cavil woke with a start. Within seconds, he was hit with a searing headache. As he sat up and wiped away the mucus-like liquid, he muttered, "I hate downloading." It was going to take a few hours before his headache finally disappeared. Everything had been going according to plan until that _ship_ had showed up. If anything, he wanted that ship. If not captured, then destroyed.

With a grunt, he rose to his feet and then stepped out of the mucus. The room was dark, mostly to help the newly downloaded Cylons to re-acclimate to their surroundings. Cavil could hear others also in the final stages of their resurrections, but he ignored them. He had more important things to do than to talk with his brothers.

Once he was out in the corridor, another model immediately came up to him. It was number Three. "It has been destroyed."

The news took him aback for a moment. "The ship that we can't seem to stop?"

"Yes," she answered with a gleam of triumph in her eyes. "It's vulnerable while recovering from one firing of its weapon. We were able to locate it at that time and destroy it."

"Had you ever thought to capture it? That way we could figure out why we cannot track it?" When she didn't answer, he stormed past her. He wanted that ship, and now it was destroyed.

"The human, Anders, didn't make it," Three called out before he had made it around a turn in the corridor.

_What?_ Cavil turned around and patiently waited for Three to catch up with him. "Do we have any others that we can send out?" He cringed inwardly at the question. That was something he didn't want the others to realize. He had been spending so much time trying to figure out how to defeat the Terrans, that he forgot about the supply of human prisoners they could use for their own motives. It bothered him that they might run out of the humans.

Three shook her head. "Not here."

"And we can't take the chance of sending one of our own. Those new humans are too smart for their own good," Cavil answered darkly. "We have to do something else." Just as he started to take a step down the corridor, he turned back to Three. "Notify the others."

"Of course," she answered with a wolfish grin.

A short time later, the small group was gathered in one of the brighter chambers.

"What's this about?" a Five asked.

"We need to know exactly what happened," Cavil answered.

"We know that the Terrans aren't completely invincible," Three answered.

"What about the Centurions? Do we have any data from the ones that were destroyed?"

An Eight studied the information that was scrolling across a monitor. "It looks like each one that came into contact with a Terran was shorted out."

"That's obvious, but is there any information we can use?" Three asked eagerly.

Eight held up her hand. "I'm still looking."

"Look faster," Three grumbled.

The Eight slammed her fist down onto the console and ground out, "If you're so eager, then why don't _you_ look for it?"

The Five looked at the two feuding Cylons for a moment before pushing himself between them, "Calm down." Once he got their full attention he continued, "All we know so far is that these Terrans aren't that easy to stop."

The Cylon known to the Colonials as 'Leoben' watched the whole scene with detached amusement. He had seen some surveillance information that told him that Thrace was with the Terrans. Now, all he had to do was to figure out how to get to her. "They should have a weakness. All humans have that."

Eight seemed to suddenly have a change of heart. "The problem is that I can't seem to find it at the moment."

"They could be fighting themselves."

Three's eyes lit up. "We'll have to keep that in mind."

Eight looked back down to the console to begin her search one again. After a few moments she sighed as she looked up, "There's not much there. Only a few fleeting images that were captured by the backup computers before being sent back here." Knowing what they would say, she immediately had the images displayed before them. It was the one from what looked like the command center on one of the Terran ships. It looked like several humans were working frantically over another one.

"What about moving images?" Cavil asked.

"Less than a minute." In a moment the sill image was replaced by the video. The group of humans were carrying one out that was on a stretcher. "I know him," Eight muttered.

"Who is it?" Three demanded.

"Lieutenant Gaeta. He was the tactical officer on the _Galactica_." Eight shook her head. "What is he doing there?"

"This is proof that the humans are working with the Terrans," Cavil said almost triumphantly. In his mind at that moment the Terrans were deemed to be just like the Colonials. That meant that they also needed to be destroyed.

"We need to send out scouts to see what's going on," Five commented.

* * *

Orbach looked at the reports coming in from the scouts. They had found nothing, and that bothered the American greatly. Not only that, but the Aurorians were on the _Yorktown,_several days back from his position. From the information he had received about what happened to Dolohov he pondered the thought of having the two fleets merged. If they did, they'd have more firepower and have a much better chance going toe-to-toe against a large Cylon fleet.

There was one thing, though. From what he had seen, the Cylons didn't sneak around. They came blasting in like Cavalry. That wasn't the way the men and women operated under him operated. They could easily sneak in, as well as show up, guns blazing. The key was that they needed better sensors. Then they could just sneak in, leave a surprise, and then sneak out. Maybe an ambush or two would be good, he mused.

Before making his decision, he pulled up a starchart that had all the Terran fleets and where they were relative to his position. Tapping a few keys, he had plotted all the new information they had about the unknown area. It wasn't much. They would have to do surveys between skirmishes. Hopefully those skirmishes would be few and far between while they figured out what was out there. For now the Cylons had the upper hand, but they had no idea what they had stirred up. It was a sad fact, but Terra had honed her war skills by fighting herself.

Seeing that they were spread far enough apart, he drafted the order for_Yorktown_'s battlegroup to join his smallish fleet. From what he saw, it would be beneficial for both fleets. He addressed the memo to Captain Windsor of the _HMS Hood_. When it was completed, he powered down the computer and rose from his desk with the new orders and left his office for the flag bridge. He would personally send it with his command code on it to let Stephen know the importance of the new orders.

There was an ulterior motive, as well. Jeremiah wanted the two remaining Aurorian officers near, so he could use their knowledge and information proactively when dealing with the Cylons.

'Admiral on the bridge!' someone called out as he stepped into the flag bridge. He didn't even bother to answer, his sole attention was on the communications officer.

'Lieutenant Willson,' he moved towards the young officer. 'I need you to send this to Captain Windsor of the _HMS Hood_,' Orback said as he handed the datastick over.

'Yes, sir!' Willson answered smartly as he accepted the order.

As the young American scurried back to his station, Jeremiah let a small smile cross his face. He easily remembered when he was a fresh-face lieutenant just out of the Academy and eager to please his superiors. Now _he_ was the superior, he mused.

With that taken care of, he decided to head back to his office. There was always something he needed to do. It didn't take long to get back to the area he frequented. The _HMS Invincible_ wasn't that big of a carrier. It was considered more of a baby carrier than anything else.

Soon enough, he found himself passing the observation deck on his way back. Making a quick decision, he pushed open the hatch and stepped through. The room was more like an observation lounge than an observation deck. The men and women who manned the carriers back on Terra still called it by its old term: _vulture's row_. He found it interesting that most of the people stationed on the space carriers called it the same thing. _Some things never change_, he mused.

Nearing the wall, he looked down onto the deck. The ship's setup was somewhat similar to the ship Mair had commanded but smaller. For a short time he watched the men and women working on the Piranhas, making sure they were in top condition.

'Admiral, sir?' a woman's voice broke through his musing.

'What is it?' He didn't even bother to turn around.

'_Yorktown_'s battlegroup is on its way.'

'Thank you. You're dismissed.'

'Yes, sir,' she answered, quietly closing the door behind him.

Jeremiah stayed there for some time before heading back to his office. With the coming ships he knew his workload would be easily doubled, not that it was already hectic. There was always something to do.

* * *

Captain Mair O'Neill, liaison to the Aurorian forces, sighed as she looked over the growing list of things she still had to do. She had thought it difficult to command a ship, but this was completely different. When onboard, she at least had the luxury of the men and women obeying her orders promptly.

There seemed to be requisitions coming out of the whazoo as Jeremiah would say, she mused. The smile faded fairly quickly when it hit her that he wasn't there. All she could do was to pray for his safety, and that he would come back in one piece. It seemed that once a month ships started arriving with wounded Picts. She had to admit, they had been lucky so far. Considering what had happened so far, the death toll was still low.

O'Neill sat back and rubbed her temples. She had too much to do, and not enough hours in the day to get everything done. Not only that, her extremely tight schedule had her meeting with the Aurorians about the Terran vessel that had been retrofitted with one of their precious FTL drives. For the test, there were going to be several engineers that knew how to operate it, that way if anything went wrong, they'd know how to fix it.

'Captain?' a voice came over the speaker. 'The people you were waiting for have arrived.'

'Thank you, I will be right out,' she answered. Before she got up, she rubbed her ever growing stomach. She was already moving, and it made her smile. Mair was somewhat restless, and she could tell her baby was picking up on her mood. 'It's all right,' she mumbled.

Mair got to her feet, she knew it wasn't wise to make them wait much longer. Before she moved from behind her desk, she quickly glanced at who she would be meeting.

"Welcome, Captain Garner." She opened the door wide enough to let him and anyone else he deemed necessary.

"Thank you, Captain," he answered, his voice slightly gruff. For a moment Mair thought he didn't want to be there.

_Oh great_. O'Neill answered his gruff tone businesslike, "Good. The sooner we get started, the sooner we will finish."

Garner's mood seemed to improve at that possibility. "All right, Captain," his muttering was quickly becoming much less pronounced.

The ship they were headed for was recently pulled from the mothball fleet. Even though she didn't see active duty recently, her maintenance had continued. "We're headed towards one of the older ships in the Terran Navy. For the tests they have given her to us on loan," she explained as they left her office and moved into the corridors.

Garner nodded in agreement. "How far along are they in the instillation?"

"They're just about ready to start the testing. This is why I wanted you here, or at least someone who knows how your FTL drives work."

The hint of praise easily brought a small smile to the engineer's face. "I will make sure the test goes well."

TBC...


	3. Chapter 3

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 3  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Three**_

Admiral William Adama looked out the window, in what had been the first class section in _Colonial One_ pondering over how drastically his life had changed in less than two years. He caught movement out of the corner of his eyes, but he ignored it.

"Credit for your thoughts?" Laura Roslin, President of the Twelve Colonies asked as she sat down beside him.

"So much has happened," he answered softly as he accepted the glass she had offered.

"Good and bad," she answered as she sipped from her own glass.

"It seems like forever since. . ."

"You had nothing screaming for your attention?" she answered with an amused grin on her face.

"Yeah." Bill couldn't help but return her grin. It quickly faded as he turned his attention back to the window.

Laura easily picked up on Bill's seemingly odd mood. "You know, it's almost time for me to move out of _Colonial One_ and into the new executive residence."

"Are you looking forward to it?"

"I don't know." She shook her head. "This place has grown on me." After a pause she asked, "What about you? You still thinking about retiring?"

Adama seemed to mull over the question for a time before finally answering, "Not yet, though I wish I could. At least, not until both Lee and Gaeta make it back." He shifted to a more comfortable, and inviting, position.

Without hesitating, she turned and leaned into his welcoming embrace. "You know, Bill. There are times I wish I knew what was going on."

"Where?" Bill's arms tightened around her for a moment before relaxing.

She was quiet for a moment before answering. "I think you know what I mean. It feels like I'm cut off from the rest of the Colonies, from the world," she corrected herself.

"I know," Bill eventually conceded. "You know as much as I do."

"I know, and that's what bothers me. I don't want to be depended on the Picts."

"Laura, once you move into the newly finished executive residence, your communications equipment will be much better quality." He brushed her hair with his fingers.

"More midnight conversations?" She let an amused grin cross her face.

"If you want," Bill's voice whispered almost seductively in her ear.

The raspy sound sent an involuntary shiver down Laura's spine. Before she lost all her resolve she muttered, "Is that all you think about anymore?"

"What makes you think that?" The amusement in his voice was easy to hear.

_I don't even want to go there_, she thought to herself.

Bill's voice was louder, and seemingly distant, when he spoke again. "And in further answer to your earlier comments, it might be some time before we don't have to rely on the Picts for almost everything."

"It still bothers me that we could loose our culture entirely." She leaned forward, sensing their mood, or at least hers, had been squashed for the time being.

"Then you have to make sure that doesn't happen."

The answer surprised Laura, enough for her to turn and look back at him. He had not moved from his position. After a moment, she acquiesced and leaned back into his still waiting embrace. The comforting warmth calmed her nerves enough for her to relax once more. "I've never had to deal with individuals with a different language," she murmured. "Although, I remember reading somewhere that very early on after we had left Kobol that there were soon difficulties in communications between the different worlds."

"Sorry, I don't know anything about that. My father might have, though he never talked about it." Bill brushed her hair to the side before continuing, "You can always talk to Captain O'Neill."

The comment was like a light that was switched on suddenly. Just as she started leaning forward, she quickly realized that Bill's arms had snaked around her and held her back. "Maybe later," she said softly with a smile.

* * *

Chief Petty officer Anastasia Dualla looked around at the communications setup she was working with. For the moment she was on one of the Pict Navy ships and checking out just how their communications system worked. The technology at Picon Fleet Headquarters was nothing like this. With what she had now, she could communicate with both the Terrans and what few Colonial ships that were still in space. It made her realize just how vulnerable they had been. Once up and running, their new system would be almost foolproof in security. She could also see what they had been sorely lacking. It was fascinating how she was able to access information from the other systems, but also know at the same time that she couldn't touch it. Knowing that that information was safe was a relief to her.

That was the only thing she felt really good about, except for one thing. It seemed that a large portion of everyone she knew had gotten pregnant. Admiral Adama seemed somewhat amused with that small fact, but he also seemed understanding at the same time. His mixed reactions were what surprised him. Hearing two officers chat quietly reminded her of the Picts that were augmenting the _Galactica_'s crew. At least they could actually speak their language.

Getting up, she quickly found that she was beginning to have a hard time squeezing through the spaces between several work stations. The looks she was getting from the Picts were a cross between amusement and annoyance. It's not that they understood what was going on, it's that she had to learn the system before she grew any bigger. Once she had the system down, which was so simple that it was difficult, she was able to head back over to the _Galactica_ and report in before going down to Aurora City.

She went planetside because Billy was there. As she left the shuttle she couldn't help but put a hand on her growing abdomen. It had been an unexpected, but pleasant surprise for both of them. Now it was beginning to get rather uncomfortable. Her uniforms that at one time had been somewhat loose were now getting rather tight.

Dee stopped suddenly and looked around in confusion. _What? Where am I?_ she rubbed the side of her face. 'Damn,' she muttered. She was near what was quickly becoming the area where several high level Terrans and Picts lived. At least she knew where she was and she turned and quickly went back to her house. The whole situation unnerved her greatly. There was something else, she was feeling somewhat odd. Finally making it back to the house she decided to not tell Billy about what happened. Looking at the time she realized it had been several hours since she had landed. She had lost that time and had no idea what had happened. The situation really frightened her. _It's because I'm pregnant_, she tried to convince herself.

It didn't work.

It was at least another hour before Billy arrived. He picked up on her mood almost immediately. For a time, he was quiet, not quite sure how she would react to him, and for that Dee was grateful. "Are you okay?" he finally asked, deliberately sticking to the more mundane issues of their day to day life.

"It's the hormones," she answered, trying to be nonchalant about it.

For the time being he went along with her explanation, but it was her next comment that was totally unexpected, "I'm scared that I might be a Cylon."

_Where did that come from?_ "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," he answered her while sounding very confused. He sat down on the couch beside her and took her hand. "I don't believe you could be. Several of the last five models were affected by that last major military exercise." He looked down at their intertwined fingers and commented, "Tory was one of them."

Dee's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes," Billy nodded slowly. "President Roslin's keeping it quiet for now. Why I'm telling you is because you never had any of the symptoms that she had." He wiped the tears off her cheeks then slid his arm around her shoulders in a comforting embrace. She might not have the symptoms, but that extended blackout period still bothered her greatly.

"How did the training go?" he tried changing the subject.

"Good," Dee sniffed as she wiped her face. "Their technology is so simple that it's difficult to learn. They even have an interesting way to keep tabs on all the different areas without having a true network. If we had that sort of technology the Holocaust would not have happened." She looked forlornly down at the floor before leaning her head once again against his shoulder.

"And we wouldn't be here," he answered.

"True."

"Uh, if you're still really concerned about how you might be a Cylon, why don't you go see Dr. Cottle. If anyone can help you, he can."

"Thank you," she finally began to relax into his embrace.

"Don't tell anyone about what I told you with Tory, okay?" For a moment worry crossed his face before dissolving into the concern he still had for her.

"Billy, I promise that I won't say a word." For the first time it what seemed like forever she gave him a genuine smile.

"Good."

* * *

Late in the afternoon Admiral Harold Jackson watched as the door closed behind the last of the men and women that were immediately under him. The meeting had been productive, but not as much had Captain Mair O'Neill attended. He waited as long as possible, but in the end he had to go on without her. The dark skinned admiral knew she was at least seven months pregnant, but he also knew that wouldn't be the reason why she skipped. She would have let him know if she were going to miss a meeting because of her condition. Her not showing up bothered him.

'Lieutenant?' His voice automatically activated the intercom system.

_'Yes, sir?'_

'See if you can reach Captain O'Neill. If she's not in her office, try the liaison's residence in Aurora City.'

_'Yes, sir.'_

'This had better be good,' he muttered as he sat down and looked over the newest information he received from his staff.

A few minutes later the intercom buzzed again,_'Sir, she's not in her office, and I can't reach her at her residence.'_

'Damn,' he muttered. He continued loud enough for the intercom to pick his voice up, 'I want you to send two officers over to Aurora and see what's going on. Have them check in with the Ambassador before going to the liaison's residence.'

_'Yes, sir.'_

The two officers arrived in Aurora fairly quickly by using one of the Navy's military transport shuttles. They knew just enough of the language to get by, but that was about it. It was enough, and they soon found themselves at the Terran Legation. The residence was nestled behind a large courtyard. It was surrounded by a decorative iron gate with the Terran seal in the center.

Once inside, they were quickly met by the ambassador, 'Welcome, Señors. Admiral Jackson has already talked to me about your plans. You may be on Pictavia, but you are in an area controlled by Aurora. While here you need to follow their rules.'

'We're looking for Captain O'Neill.'

'Well, Commander. . .' Garcia looked at the name tag, 'Hargrove, I can show you where she works. I haven't figured out how their address system works yet.'

'That will be good, Mr. Ambassador. We also want directions to where she lives,' Hargrove answered.

Garcia seemed to ponder the request for a few moments before he made his decision. 'Follow me,' the Spaniard indicated a door that was to the side. The room they entered was decorated completely different from the formal meeting area. This room was much more lavish, something one would find in the palaces and noble houses in the Spanish tradition. 'I have been to the liaison's residence.' The look on Garcia's face easily showed his distaste in visiting a residence he considered below his position.

'Thank you, sir,' Hargrove nodded while accepting the oddly shaped paper.

'I will have Alejandro see you out.'

The two officers waited patiently for their escort. When Alejandro arrived they were quickly seen out of the residence and out into the street. 'Well, Jones, that was interesting,' Hargrove muttered.

'Definitely.'

The instructions were easy to follow, which the two officers were grateful for. They decided to head to her residence since they knew she was not in her office. The house they now stood in front of was one of modest design. Most of the houses in Aurora City were still the modular prefab units, but some had already been replaced by much larger homes. Captain O'Neill had decided to continue with the prefab unit, probably because her official residence was in Avalon.

'Captain?' Hargrove asked as he knocked on the door. They waited for several minutes before trying the door. It surprised him that it was unlocked. 'Captain O'Neill?' he called again as he pushed the door open. There was no movement in what he could see.

Both officers were nervous, not knowing what might be hiding deeper in the house, and not being armed. With infinite care he slowly made his way around the corner into the larger room and stopped short. For a second he found he couldn't move. There was blood splattered all over the place. 'No. . .' he whispered. When the shock wore off, he rushed over to the still form. 'Call the paramedics,' he said quickly as he slowly turned the person over, and checked for a pulse. Through her swollen and battered face he could tell it was O'Neill.

'Is she alive?' Jones asked.

Hargrove looked up to see his companion had the receiver in his hand. 'Yes, but she's in bad shape.' The officer placed a hand on her belly and could feel movement, but her abdomen muscles very tight. 'They need to get here quick.'

'They're sending the shuttle from ATC. It should be here in just a few minutes.' Jones knelt beside the victim.

'Good. You also need to call their police. I have no idea who would want to do this to a pregnant woman.'

'Some sick psycho,' Jones muttered as he went back over to the phone. The officer looked around the phone for a bit, trying to find any information he could use to reach the local police. He found it under the phone. Dialing the number sequence he was able to reach the authorities and report what looked like in his eyes an assault and battery. He also told them not to bother with the paramedics because the trauma shuttle was already on its way. It was only afterwards did he realize that the person on the other end of the phone could speak English fairly well.

Both the paramedics and the police arrived at the same time. The police and the paramedics both entered into the residence. Once inside the paramedics immediately began to prep O'Neill to get her to the hospital. The two Pict Naval officers knew little about processing potential crime scenes, but they did know enough to not touch anything.

As the paramedics rolled the stretcher out of the residence and into the waiting ambulance shuttle the local police officers went back over to the two military officers. Almost immediately they all realized that the language barrier was too great an issue for all of them to communicate effectively. Through token words and crude hand gestures they were able to decide on another place where there was someone who could translate for them.

Just as they began heading in that direction, another vehicle pulled up. The door was already open even before the vehicle had come to a complete stop. A sharply dressed man stepped out and pulled something out of his suit pocket. Before the ambulance had closed their back doors, he climbed inside to take a look at Captain O'Neill. When he was finished he climbed out and came back over. 'I'm Special Agent Goren. Has the crime scene been processed yet?'

'No,' Hargrove answered. 'The officers here don't speak English. We were going to find someone that can translate for us.'

Goren rubbed the back of his neck while answering, 'The victim is a Captain. You knew that, didn't you.'

'Yes, she was supposed to report to Admiral Jackson, but she didn't make it. We were sent to see why.'

'Good,' his answer seemed absent minded. 'Hold on,' Goren seemed to come to a decision and pulled out his phone. 'If they're not already on their way, I need the CSU.'

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 4  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh

Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Four**_

The arrival of _Yorktown_'s battlegroup was a welcome sight to the smaller fleet the _Invincible_ was surrounded with. Its arrival seemed to herald much more confidence for the Terrans. Captain Stephen Windsor, who commanded the _HMS Hood_ was quick to point out that even with a larger force, there were still dangers lurking in the areas not not within reach of their scanners. Added to the fact that the Cylons were known to take full advantage of their unique FTL drive made the now larger fleet more wary than ever.

During Windsor's initial report he was able to put a more human face on what had happened in that last devastating attack. One of the other things Orbach found out was that the Aurorians mainly stayed with the pilots, and would only go to other areas of the ship when really needed. Orbach was interested in having them aboard the smaller vessel.

The two Aurorians arrived some time later. The setup of the _Invincible_ was radically different from the _Yorktown_. Enough that they needed a guide to get them to Orbach's office in a reasonable amount of time.

Windsor was still there when the two Aurorian officers finally arrived.

'This is Major Lee Adama and Captain Kara Thrace,' Windsor introduced the two officers in his slightly clipped English accent.

'Sorry it took this long, sir,' Apollo reported. 'This ship is totally different from the _Yorktown._'

Orbach waived the comment aside, but his voice conveyed something else. 'Don't let that happen again, Major.'

'Yes, sir,' Lee worked to keep himself from stuttering. For a second he glanced towards Kara before quickly bringing his attention back to the Terran admiral.

'Good.' Orbach sat back and looked the two officers over. Even though she didn't say anything, Jerry knew she was holding her tongue. _Wise move_. 'The reason I'm keeping you here instead of sending you back is because you know the Cylons, and how they will react in certain situations.' His eyes hardened. 'They may have started this war, but by God we're going to finish it. Dismissed.' He dropped the pen he had been holding onto the desk.

Once the door was closed Orbach called his aide. 'Commander, make sure they have an escort.'

'Yes, sir,' she answered with a nod before leaving.

Out in the corridor Kara spoke for the first time, "He's about as bad as Cain."

Lee's eyes swept the corridor before coming to rest on his fellow pilot, "Kara, we did get them involved."

The words seemed to deflate the more combative officer. "You're right," she sighed.

"C'mon," Lee easily grasped her arm and directed her down the corridor. When she started fighting it he let her go.

"Lee, don't you know where we're going?" she asked as they turned a corner.

Lee smiled. "It's a carrier, I suspect it's designed along the same lines as the _Yorktown_. It shouldn't be that hard to learn."

Several hours later Erbe was roused from sleep by the night shift communications officer. It wasn't unusual. Most of the time she was required to handle some of the more mundane issues that went to Orbach. 'Yeah, yeah. I'll be right there,' she muttered as officer continued to pound on the door. Before she got to the door she pulled on a pare of sweats and a tank top.

'You don't have to pound,' she said dryly as she pulled open the door, 'Ensign.'

'Sorry, Commander,' she said. 'We received an amcross message.'

Kim nodded while reaching for the small slip of paper. 'Thank you, Ensign,' she said, dismissing her as she looked down at the small sheet. 'Damn,' she muttered.

Without hesitation, she quickly backed up and closed the door. _This is not good_, she thought to herself as she went over to her comm. unit. 'Logan?'

_'Erbe, do you have any idea what time it is?' _he growled back through the open channel.

'Yes, I do. I need you here ASAP. It's extremely important.'

For a moment there was silence on the other end. When he did answer he seemed resigned. _'All right, I'll be there in a moment.'_

Without preamble the door into her cabin opened up and Logan came in. He was dressed in sweat pants and a teeshirt. 'Okay Erbe, what's so important that can't wait until the next shift?' he grumbled as he ran a hand through his hair, mussing it even further.

'This, and you'll want to sit down,' she answered as she handed him the piece of paper.

Logan stared at the paper intently. 'Damn,' he growled out as he ran hand through his hair again.

Erbe shook her head. 'Chris, I don't want to tell him by myself.'

'Yeah, I don't blame you,' he readily agreed. 'C'mon. The quicker we do this, the quicker they'll get his answer.' Logan had turned and was already heading for the corridor when Kim was able to catch up with him. Even though the _Yorktown_ was now part of the fleet, Orbach had made the decision to keep his flag on the _Invincible_. It was understandable. Everything was much closer and easier to find on the smaller ship. And that included his cabin. Because of Erbe and Logan's specialized duties, they bunked fairly close to both his office and his cabin.

Logan looked once more at Erbe then buzzed the door.

_'This had better be good,'_ Orbach's sleep-rough voice growled from the speaker.

'Sir, Commander Logan, and Commander Erbe is with me. It's extremely imperative that we see you.'

The door opened, which allowed Chris to push it open further and follow the higher ranked officer deeper into the room. There was one light on, just enough to make sure you could see where you were going. 'So, Logan. What can't wait until the next shift?' Jeremiah asked. They both could easily hear the edge in his voice.

'This, sir.' Chris handed him the slip of paper he had been holding.

Jerry glared at him then glanced down at the message. For a minute he seemed unable to process the urgent message. When he finally did, the color drained from his face and he managed to sink down onto the closest chair. 'Any word?' he almost whispered.

Kim shook her head. 'No, sir.'

'Sir,' Logan began, 'We need your answer as soon as possible.'

Orbach's hands tightened around the paper, forcing it to crinkle. 'H-have them do everything possible for both of them.'

Kim caught Chris's attention and indicated the door. After he disappeared, she went over to his comm. and contacted the CMO. Dr. Peter Shelton reached Orbach's cabin very quickly. 'How is he?' he quietly asked.

'He hasn't moved,' she answered as she pulled him out of direct hearing. 'It's his wife. There's not much information available at the moment. All we know is that she was assaulted and that she's in a coma.'

Shelton seemed to consider his options for a moment. 'I'm going to give him a sedative. That way he'll be able to rest for the balance of the shift.'

Kim seemed to pick up on the direction he was heading. 'I'll keep an eye on him to make sure he'll be all right.'

'Good. I didn't want to have to bring him to sickbay to make sure he rests.'

'Right, the fewer that know, the better, at least for now.' Erbe watched as Dr. Shelton moved over to Orbach's side. 'Admiral. I'm going to give you a sedative. It'll help you rest for the balance of the shift.'

'Thanks,' the Admiral mumbled, not resisting when the doctor pulled him to his feet and lead him to his rack. As soon as he was settled, Shelton gave him the sedative. 'Call me when he wakes,' he told Kim.

She nodded. 'Don't worry, I will.'

* * *

"Has there been any reports from this house before?" Goren asked the two police officers, they were still outside the liaison's residence.

"N-no," one answered in surprise. "This is a quiet area."

The special agent let a small smile play across his face. "Yes?"

"Mostly Terrans and Picts have settled in this neighborhood."

Goren seemed to mull the information over for a few minutes. He jerked around at the sound of an approaching shuttle. 'Good, they're here,' he muttered as he scanned the surroundings. Seeing the confused looks on the Aurorians, he qualified, "The officers that process the crime scenes are here."

"Good."

Seeing there was nothing more to say or ask, Goren pulled on a pair of latex gloves he appropriated from the CSU team and entered the residence.

'Sir?' Hargrove started, 'When they look for fingerprints, they will find mine and Jones'.'

The special agent looked back to the two officers and was about to answer when a member of the forensic team answered for him, 'We'll keep that in mind, Lieutenant.'

'I'll keep you informed of what we find,' Goren said to the two officers.

'Good,' Jones answered.

After the two officers left Goren went back inside and watched the forensic team at work for several long minutes before deciding to go back outside. Something caught his eye as he walked around the spot Captain O'Neill had been found. The photographer was taking still images of the evidence as he knelt down to look closer at what caught his attention. 'Do you know what this is?' he asked as he pulled on a pair of surgical gloves. 'Or what it means?'

'D-U?' The lead forensic officer shook his head. 'Not really. The EMT's weren't sure either so they left it for use to figure out.'

'More like me,' Goren muttered. Not seeing anything else of interest, he went back to the door. 'Interesting,' he muttered as he felt around the door frame.

Sensing that he was finally finished, Goren stepped outside and down to the street level as he pulled off the gloves. The two local officers were still outside, not actually loitering, but waiting for him.

"Did you notice the door?"

"Yes," Goren answered. He hesitated then stepped to the side to let the two officers into the residence. It was best to let them be part of the investigation.

* * *

Laura sighed as she nestled deeper under the covers. The sensation of warm breath on her neck sent a shiver down her back. "This is nice," she mumbled.

"Oh?"

She felt another shiver shoot down her spine as Bill's hand gently caressed her hip. "I might have this bed brought over. It's nice and comfortable." She smiled when Bill made a noncommittal sound. As she turned over, she glanced outside the window. It was dusk and the street lights in the neighboring town were just starting to wink on for the evening. "You know, I still haven't talked to O'Neill." She snuggled into the warm bands of his arms.

"Why not?" he asked, amusement clearly lacing his voice.

"Because I've been busy," she answered with the same amount of amusement. After a moment she sat up and stretched. As she stood up and reached for her robe, Bill said, "You're going to call her." He looked out the window, "And it's already dark."

"I know. I just want to ask her a few questions."

Bill sighed in resignation. He knew he couldn't stop her when she made up her mind. "I'll be right back," she said briskly, then moved into her office. Sitting down, Laura went through the messages, searching for O'Neill's contact information. She had to admit it was getting a bit late, but Mair had told her that she could contact her at any time. Hoping that was the case she called the residence. When there was no answer, she tried calling her office.

Laura reached the after hours attendant. "This is President Roslin. I need to speak to Captain O'Neill."

_"Oh my God, you haven't heard?"_ the attendant answered shakily.

"Haven't heard what?" Laura said, sensing dread starting to creep up.

_"CID's not sure about it yet, but they think it might have been a botched robbery. Captain O'Neill was hurt bad. The trauma shuttle took her to ATC. . um , I-I mean the Avalon Trauma Center_."

"Have you heard anything yet?"

_"Nothing, Ma'am. As soon as I hear anything I'll let you know."_

"Thank you," Laura forced her voice to remain calm as she hung the phone up. She knew it had to be bad if a member of her staff was panicking. "Gods," she whispered._This is not good._

Bill knew something was up the moment he saw her face. "What is it?" he asked as he reached for his shorts.

"There was a possible failed robbery attempt at the liaison's residence. Captain O'Neill was there."

Adama hesitated before continuing, "Go on."

"Apparently Captain O'Neill was injured. The overnight attendant at her office didn't know how bad."

"Her child?"

"Nothing. She said she would let me know if anything changes." Laura sat down beside him and sighed, letting Bill pull her back against him.

TBC...


	5. Chapter 5

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 5  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Five**_

From the time the emergency shuttle had left Aurora City until the time it reached the one trauma hospital located on Pictavia, the doctors already knew a little of what they were dealing with, and who the injured person was. There was a special landing pad located on the roof of the largest structure in the complex so the shuttle could land close. Time was precious, and was the enemy in critical cases. From her fingerprints, the computers were able to download O'Neill's medical information, which also included who had medical authority.

As she was being rushed into the ER several messages were already in the process of being created. Not only did they need to contact her primary care physician, but also her prenatal doctor. The obvious contractions her mind had subconsciously triggered was not a good sign.

As the doors burst open, several nurses and doctors converged on the new trauma patient. The first thing they did was to make sure she wasn't getting any worse. There was still some outward bleeding, but not as bad as it had been. The paramedics had done as much as they could to stop it, but there was still some seepage. Those same paramedics had no way of telling if she had internal damage, or if she did, how bad the damage was. The paramedics main job was to keep the injured victim alive as best as possible while transporting that person to the hospital, in this case the trauma center.

'Damn,' the lead doctor cursed when he got his first look at the x-rays. 'Any word on the attorney yet?' he asked as he studied the injuries clearly shown on the side wall.

He looked at the images again. 'We can't wait. Prep her for surgery,' he ordered as he left the room to get ready.

He was stopped in the corridor by another tech. 'Dr. Hatfield's here. She's Mair's prenatal.'

'Good. I want to talk to him.' He turned around looking for the other physician.

'Her. You want to talk to her.' A matronly-looking woman came up. She quickly flashed her credentials and then started, 'How is she?'

'She's in a coma, and there's bleeding, but her primary is still-' he looked at the clock, 'We're 90 minutes from receiving his instructions. And I don't want to contact her secondary until we know for she he's not going to respond.'

'And the infant?'

'There's signs of fetal distress, and contractions. If she doesn't wake up soon, we may have to do a caesarian to make sure he. . .she. . .'

'She.'

'Lives.' He scanned her up and down. 'Get ready. Depending on how stressed the infant is, we might have to take the infant while in surgery.'

Dr. Hatfield nodded and followed him.

The surgery took longer than expected, and the distress the infant was in only seemed to increase the longer she stayed where she was. Seeing no other way, they opted to remove the her and have her placed in an incubator. She would have a much better chance to finish developing by spending those last few weeks in an incubator than within her mother's womb.

Once that was finished, the hard part began. The bleeding wasn't that difficult to stop, what was difficult was the swelling in her brain and the damage done to her inner ear. Even with current technology it was almost impossible to fully repair the delicate bones and tissues that helped keep a person balanced. This is what took longer than excepted. Eventually, Mair O'Neill was out of surgery and slowly recovering in one of the CCU rooms.

It was only after the surgery was finished that they received the much needed message from her primary medical authority. Seeing how it was going to take an average of two hours to get the response they needed, the doctors decided to let him know they were contacting her secondary. He was also told that his daughter had been born two months early, but she was healthy, albeit small. And if they had already decided on it, what name did they wish for the child to be called.

Some time later Agent Goren arrived at the hospital. From his contacts within the hospital he had found that she had managed to make it through surgery and was now recovering in the CCU ward. Even though he was no relations to the wounded officer, he still went to visit her. He wanted to see how well she was recovering. He walked into the CCU ward, looking for her room. When he didn't find it he went over to the nurses desk. 'Excuse me,' he asked the attending nurse.

'What can I help you with?'

'I'm looking for Captain O'Neill's room.'

'And you are?' the nurse asked.

'Special Agent Goren,' he answered while pulling out his identification.

When the nurse seemed convinced, she said, 'Mrs. O'Neill's been moved up to ICU.'

'ICU?' Goren queried sounding confused as he put his ID away.

'Yes, She's improved enough to not need critical care anymore.'

Goren nodded while answering, 'Thank you.' It only took a few minutes to get up to the different ward. There seemed to be more activity in the corridors. It was easy for him to see the room where Captain O'Neill was recovering, there were two Pict officers looking through the windows into it.

'Commander?' he asked as he neared the two officers.

Hargrave turned to look at him before bringing his attention back to the room he was watching.

Not saying anything, Goren moved nearer so he could look. 'What happened?' he asked, clearly noting that Captain O'Neill wasn't pregnant anymore. It also bothered him seeing that the only people that were visiting her were not family members.

'What do you mean?' Jones asked

'The baby. I know she was pregnant,' Robert indicated the window.

Jones looked to Hargrave, not sure if he should answer the question or not.

'Oh, that,' the higher ranked officer finally answered. 'The infant is in the neonatal area. Doctors said she will be all right, just underweight.'

Goren nodded, accepting the information. He decided to make his own trek down to the neonatal areas. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eyes, Robert turned and followed the hospital employee towards the nurses station. 'Excuse me,' he asked, trying to get the man's attention.

'Can I help you?'

'Yes. Uh, Captain O'Neill. How long will she be in ICU?' Seeing the tech's reluctance he quickly pulled out his credentials.

Once satisfied, he answered, 'As soon as she's breathing on her own. Then she'll be moved into a private room.'

'Thank you,' Robert answered and let the tech go back to his duties. Instead of putting his ID back into his coat pocket, he decided to clip it onto his jacket. Now he wouldn't have to keep pulling it out every time he talked to someone. Turning around, he noticed that the two officers had left. Either that, or they were inside O'Neill's room.

On a whim, he went back over to her room. The only thing to break the monotonous silence was the sound of the computers. 'You shouldn't be alone,' he muttered as he looked through the window. 'No one should be alone while in the hospital.' _I'll be back_, he thought as he stepped away from the lonely room and towards the elevators. As he stepped into the elevator he paused as he looked at the floors. With a thoughtful look he decided to have the elevator stop two floors down. As he got out on the different floor he looked around. The colors on the walls were either bright and vibrant, or soft blues and pinks. It was the pediatric wing.

Not that he was interested, he went towards the neonatal ICU, where the littlest patients were cared for. Deeper in the ward he found several incubators that were cradling premature newborns. Not finding 'O'Neill" on any of the beds, he decided to head back to his office. As he stepped outside the hospital he pulled out his phone. 'Any word. . .' He studied the ground intently before answering, 'The trauma center. . .All right, I'll wait.'

* * *

Captain Garner sighed when he heard the news. He soon realized that he was going to have to oversee the tests himself. In a way, it wasn't that bad. This way he could run the tests without any outside interference. The earlier tests were just to make sure the computer systems worked properly. This time, they would actually have the ship jump. It wouldn't be that far, but enough to assess whether or not to continue with the current testing. 

If everything goes without a hitch, then they can begin designing new FTL drives. He did find it somewhat odd that this military vessel didn't have any sort of faster than light travel. He found it doubly strange that there was space set aside for it.

"Everything's installed per your specifications," one of the Pict engineers reported.

"Good," he answered while looking over the specs once again. "Before you go back, I want to know why there was room for the FTL drive."

"Once it was taken off the line, those engines were removed."

Garner nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting." He hesitated before continuing, "How much longer before we run the first major test?"

"As long as it takes us to put the coordinates into the FTL computer. She's all ready to go."

_That was very good news_, Garner thought with a grin. "Good." When he was alone once again, he finished getting the initial coordinates ready. For the actual jump he would be engineering. He didn't want to have any second guesses on whether it would work or not. Plus he knew FTL drives forward and backwards. There would be someone in the Terran's version of the CIC only to make sure that things went well from that perspective. At least the officer was from the _Pegasus_.

_"We're ready up here."_

"Good. I'll initiate the jump from here, I just need someone up there to make sure. . ."

_"Everything works. Yes, I understand."_

"Good," Garner answered with a smile. For a moment he looked at the Hi-Def screen nearby. He could just make out the _Galactica_ quite a ways away. The old ship was being backlit by the reflection Pictavia gave off from its sun. He looked at the image for another moment before bringing his attention back to the newly installed FTL computers. He picked up the comm. and made the announcement, "Jump will be on my call at the count of five." He waited a few moments before he started the countdown. When he reached one Garner began the jumping sequence.

Moments later that familiar twisting sensation came and then went. When it stopped, he called to the CIC, "Where are we?"

_"Hold one. . .It looks like we've jumped to the correct coordinates."_

"Good. I want at least two more jumps out of the system before we go back." Garner could feel the groans coming from the crews behind him. He had no doubt that the CIC bunch were thinking the same thing.

_"Yes, sir," _was the answer he received.

"I will tell you when it's time to start prepping for the next jump. Garner out." He closed the line and quickly started the process of checking to see if there was anything wrong with the FTL drive. Once that was finished he had the next set of coordinates put into the computer.

They continued the sequence several more times until Garner felt confident enough that the drive was working fine. The last jump took them back into the Pictavia system, but not up against the planet. They jumped in quite a ways away and cruised in. Once docked, he would make his full report. So far, though, everything went well with the tests.

TBC...


	6. Chapter 6

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 6  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Six**_

It was early in the next shift when Orbach woke up from his medicated induced sleep. The sedative that he had been given had made his mouth go dry and given him a slight headache. As he sat up he looked around the room. He was surprised to find his aide slumped in one of his office chairs, asleep. It took him a moment before he remembered why she was there in the first place.

'Please don't let anything happen to them,' he muttered as he rubbed his face. Being five months out he knew that's all he could really do. With nothing else to do, he decided to get up.

The subtle noises easily roused Kim from her light sleep. 'Go back to your cabin and get some rest Commander,' he told her as he slowly stood up. He took his time because the sedative from last night made him somewhat woozy.

'Yes, sir,' she nodded as she rubbed her neck. She was about to say something else but he interrupted, 'I'll be okay.'

Kim nodded and quietly left the cabin.

For several long minutes he looked at the piece of paper that was on the table. Orbach knew what was on it. For the time being, he left it there. Just because he was an admiral didn't mean he could sleep all day. It was at least an hour into the shift when he stepped into the shower to get cleaned up. Thirty minutes later he was in his office and looking over the information that had come in the last eight hours. Besides the regular messages there were several that needed to be checked off. Underneath one that gave a list of all the squadrons available was one from Avalon.

It was a message from the lead CID detective telling him that everything would be done to find out who had attacked Mair and why it was done. For Jeremiah, the message was a godsend. It also helped to keep his mind clear so he could pay attention to what needed to be done. Making a quick decision, he wrote out a message thanking the detective for keeping him informed.

The next message, though, made him think twice. It was from the hospital letting him know that his daughter had been born 8 weeks early. The message seemed cold and clinical to him, almost like a form letter. What was worse was that this one mentioned that Mair was in surgery.

Before panic could set in, he took a deep breath and scanned the paper for a time stamp. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was dated before the message from the CID detective. Even though there was no mention of Mair's condition, at least the message from the CID detective sounded very compassionate. He did know if anything drastic changed, he would be notified immediately.

The one semi bright side of it all was that the doctors and nurses wanted to know the name he and Mair had wished for the girl to be called. Without any knowledge of Mair's condition, or even if she would pull through, he realized just how petty their arguments were in choosing a name for their daughter. And because of all of that he wrote down the name she had wanted and had the message sent to the appropriate people.

Knowing there wasn't much more he could do, he put the rest of the messages off to the side and began working on the latest intelligence information from the front lines.

What piqued his curiosity was that several Cylon raiders were seen in the near vicinity scouting out the area. Instead of jumping out, the raiders ducked behind a small planetoid that was easily in range.

'Very interesting,' he muttered as he replayed the images. When he decided he had seen enough he called for the ship's captain.

'I know that look, Admiral,' Captain Sergio Izaguerre said as he stepped into the office.

'Because of this, Captain,' Jeremiah answered with a slightly wolfish grin as he turned the monitor around. As Sergio sat down he continued, 'We can either jump in with our guns blazing, or sneak around.'

The El Salvadorian looked somewhat skeptical before answering, 'And you're sure that there's a Cylon fleet hiding there?'

'My main reason is because those two ships look like two of their scouts. Instead of jumping out, they went behind the planet.' He replayed the image, more for his benefit than the El Salvadorian's.

The captain nodded after a moment. Before he could answer there was a single knock on the door and then it opened. Willson was standing just outside with another piece of paper. 'I'm sorry to interrupt, but this just came through. I thought you'd want to see it.'

'Thank you, Lieutenant,' Orbach answered with a tight smile as he accepted the note. He scanned the message quickly then dismissed Willson. He did feel a sense of relief knowing that Mair's sister had made it to Avalon. Until he got back, she would have to take over the medical decisions. He was just too far away. Jeremiah folded up the note and put it off to the side.

'Admiral, either way, if they're there, it'll be a surprise.'

'Which is what I'm counting on.' Orbach swiveled the monitor back around while continuing, 'Get a ship out there.'

Izaguerre let a slight smile cross his face while standing up. 'As soon as I hear anything, I'll report it.'

'Captain, if they're there, I expect us to make the attack.' Jeremiah countered.

The El Salvadorian answered with his own wolfish grin. 'Yes, sir.'

Orbach stayed in his office and reviewed additional data while the scout was sent out. When he was finished, he got up and went towards the ship's command center. The room was below his flag bridge. With more people stationed there it was a more active place.

'Admiral on the deck!' a voice called out as he stepped into the room.

'As you were,' he answered. 'What have you heard so far?' he asked Izaguerre.

'Nothing yet, sir.' the officer shook his head. 'Ducked into the atmosphere. She wanted to stay hidden as long as possible.'

'Stinger's on her way back,' the comm. officer reported.

The waiting was like a cat and mouse game. It seemed to take forever for the scout to get close enough to the fleet to not jeopardize the upcoming attack. The comm. officer immediately opened a channel the moment she got into range, 'Report?'

_'There are at least three basestars on the other side with what looks like a full complement of raiders.'_

'Stinger, did you see anything else?'

_'No, sir. Just the basestars.'_

'Have her land and refuel,' Orbach muttered softly.

Sergio nodded. 'Ensign, have her come in and get topped off.'

'Yes, sir.' He paused the continued into the mike, 'Stinger, you're to report back to get topped off.'

_'Aye.'_

'And have the rest of the fighters ready for immediate launch when we get into range.' He looked over to the El Salvadorian and continued, 'Have the stealth ships slingshot around the planet, the heavies will slingshot around at a different angle.'

The ship's captain grinned as he relayed the new orders.

It seemed to take forever for Stinger to reach the _Yorktown_. Once she was back, the deck crew worked like crazy to get her ready to get out there once again.

Through the subspace transceivers, the coordinates of the Cylon fleet were sent to all the ships in the fleet. For the lighter stealth vessels, they were given the vectors they were to take around the planet. The plan would work as long as they started at the same time. Once they were around the planetoid they all knew that they were cleared to fire.

Admiral Orbach had retreated back to his flag bridge to give out the command. 'Begin Operation _Alpha_ on my mark.'

When the order was given, ships immediately began to pick up speed, heading towards the planet and the Cylon fleet on the other side. The slingshot effect was devastating. The moment the Terran frigates and destroyers appeared, they opened up their weapons and laid down a barrage of missile fire, clearing the way for the fighters.

The surprise was complete. By the time the Cylons were launching their raiders, the Terran fighters were almost on top of them. Added to that, the larger destroyers were continuing to fire multiple missiles towards the three basestars. Because of the number of missiles being sent, it was inevitable that they reached their targets.

When the Cylon Basestars released their own contingency of fighters it quickly reduced the odds down to being equal. Then they immediately countered the Terran's missile barrage with one of their own.

Because of the size of the _Yorktown_, the Cylons immediately targeted it, expecting to have the Terran admiral stationed on it. It was a common misconception, and one that the Terrans exploited to their full advantage. All the attention the supercarrier was receiving left the _Invincible_ relatively alone.

The missile barrages from both sides were beginning to take their toll. The Terran capital ships were not as heavily built as the Colonial battlestars, and because of that, they were damaged more heavily. The countermeasures that the Terran ships used did help, somewhat. But with the amount of ordinance being expended on both sides there was bound to be some that got through.

Those missiles had a devastating effect on both sides of the conflict. The Terran force was slowly getting the upper hand in the skirmish, only because they had a much larger number of ships to use. When they began to close in on the three Basestars the Cylons jumped, leaving the raiders behind to find their own way to the closest Cylon fleet.

* * *

The whole trip from Terra seemed to take forever. Jackie Grogan stepped out of the hotel she was currently staying in while in Avalon. This was not the reason why she wanted to come here. 

It had been two days since she received word on Mair O'Neill's condition. And being her secondary medical authority, she had been contacted at the same time that her husband had been. With Jeremiah being as far off as he was, they had immediately requested her presence.

She had immediately notified everyone, then packed for the trip. Before she had any time to think, she'd found herself standing outside her hotel, waiting for a taxi to take her to the hospital. Then, in an equally confusing time leap, she'd found herself at the hospital and inquiring as to where she could find her sister. Now, sitting beside her younger sibling, time finally seemed to slow down to a crawl.

Jackie grimaced. It was difficult to see her little sister with her head wrapped up and patches over her eyes.

From what Jackie had heard, she finally asked one of the nurses why Mair had her eyes covered. Once she realized that Jackie was the medical authority she explained to her the reason for the eye patches. They were there to help combat the vertigo they knew she would have when she finally wakes up.

As she sat there, movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. There was a man dressed in a suit standing just outside. On his breast pocket was a badge. From this distance, she couldn't tell if he was military or civilian. Either way, she noticed that he seemed relieved. Just as he took a step to leave, she called softly, 'Wait.'

'Are you sure?' he asked as he took a step inside. When she glanced at his badge again, he introduced himself, 'I'm Special Agent Goren with CID.' For a moment he glanced around, seemingly nervous.

Jackie answered, 'Don't worry, I won't kick you out,' She hesitated before continuing, 'I'm Jackie Grogan.'

'You're from Ireland,' he noted the obvious.

'And your point?' she answered somewhat amused.

'Are you Captain O'Neill's medical authority?' he tentatively asked.

'It's all right.' She seemed to sense that he wanted some clarification, 'And yes, I am. Captain O'Neill is my younger sister.'

He nodded absently. 'I'm glad she's not alone anymore,' he muttered. 'Sorry,' he said somewhat louder. 'I'm the lead investigator on your sister's case. I stopped by on my way to check out another tip.'

'Of course,' Jackie answered while resting her hand now on Mair's. The doctors had told her that she was in the process of waking up. When she brought her attention back to the special agent, she found he had disappeared into the hospital corridors.

Robert Goren walked briskly through the corridors of the hospital and down to the exit. He was truly glad that Captain O'Neill wasn't alone anymore. He always felt compelled to make sure that the injured in any type of crime had at least someone come to visit.

Once he was outside, he pulled out his notes. Goren needed to head back to Aurora City and pay a visit to the one known Cylon. He wanted to talk to her more for his benefit than anything else.

The house he found himself in front of seemed average in his estimation. There were a few things that were different. The Aurorians were very careful to keep a constant watch on the Cylon. So, he wasn't that surprised when the Cylon opened the door and invited him in after he introduced himself. What did surprise him was another Aurorian was there talking to her. The Cylon introduced herself as Sharon Agathon while keeping a watchful eye on the toddler that was running around the room. Sharon then introduced her companion as 'Dee Dualla'.

The name was a bit of a surprise, but he decided to hold off on that until he had further information.

TBC...


	7. Chapter 7

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 7  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Seven**_

"Is there any reason why you're here?" Sharon asked as she reached down to pick up the toddler that had wandered towards the door. 

Goren fidgeted somewhat before speaking, "There was an attempted murder yesterday afternoon."

"And you immediately assumed that I did it?" the Cylon sighed in resignation.

The agent shook his head. "I didn't say that. I only wanted to know your thoughts on who could have committed the act."

Hera whimpered when Sharon tightened her hold. "So you can take Hera away from me. I know what you're doing." 

Goren instinctively backed away several feet. "I would never do that," he told her emphatically. For the moment, she seemed to accept his words, and let him sit down in one of the available chairs.

"I'm sorry," she finally apologized. When she sat down, Hera slid off the couch and wandered towards her toys. "I just don't want anything to happen to my daughter."

"I understand," he answered automatically as he pulled out his PDA.

The Cylon's voice lowered, "No, you have no idea."

The special agent looked at her thoughtfully before writing something down.

"Everyone blames me when something happens. Whatever it was, I couldn't have done it." Sharon indicated the security system that was installed in the house, then pushed up her shirt sleeve to show the wrist monitor. "I'm monitored everywhere I go." She glanced to Dee for a moment before turning her attention back to Goren. Which brought his attention back to the other person in the room. When her name was transcribed into English it started with the same two letters that Captain O'Neill had been able to write before she passed out unconscious.

After a moment, Goren pocketed the PDA and stood up. "I won't bother you anymore," he told Sharon directly. "And please understand this, I'm not out to get you. I just want to figure out who the assailant was, and hopefully stop it from happening again." He glanced once more to Dee before backing towards the door. Only when he was on his way back to Avalon did he pull out his phone and call his partner. 'I think I know who was the assailant in the O'Neill case.'

* * *

It had been several hours since the special agent had left, enough for Jackie to pull out her electronic book and finally start catching up on her reading list. Except for the sound of the computers and movement from the hall, the room was fairly quiet. Perfect for her to delve into a good book.

Even though the story was engrossing, she was still aware enough of what was going on around her to hear a soft sigh. Saving her place, she put the book down and turned her attention back to her younger sister. Even though the doctor had told her earlier that Mair was waking up, this was one of the first real signs. For her, the sounds washed out a lot of tension she had built up ever since she had received word back on Earth. This was a very good sign.

'Maire?' she said softly as she grasped her sister's hand. The name she used was what their parents called her when she was young. Hopefully she would respond more readily to this than to what she now went by. 'If you can hear me, squeeze my hand,' she said just a little bit louder. As she waited, it seemed to her that she did squeeze her hand, but she couldn't tell for sure.

What happened next was completely unexpected. There was a strangled sound as Mair shook her head back and forth as she reached down to her abdomen then up to her face. 'She's gone,' she slurred slightly as she reached back down to her almost flat stomach area. 'No. . .'

'Mair, it's all right,' Jackie soothed as she reached over to grasp her sister's hands before they started flailing. 'Your daughter's fine. I saw her a bit ago.'

'No. . .' Mair let out a sob. 'She's gone, I know it.'

Taking a chance, Jackie released one of Mair's hands and called the nurse on duty. Once free, Mair's free hand went back up to her face and scraped at the bandages that were covering her eyes. 'Please, Mair,' Jackie said again, 'it'll be all right.' At that moment the nurse poked his head into the room and nodded. 'I'll be back,' he said as he quickly disappeared around a woman who was standing just outside. He returned just as quickly with a small tray in hand.

'I don't know what happened,' Jackie said as she backed away from the bed. 'She's been mumbling about losing her daughter. I'm not sure if she's fully awake or not.' She shook her head as the nurse quickly administered the sedative into the IV line. 'This should calm her down,' he told her as he put the syringe back into the small tray. 'Let Mair hear your voice. She's not fully aware of her surroundings, but enough to know that she's not pregnant anymore.'

'I'll do that,' Jackie nodded as she sat back down in the chair. Movement out in the hall caught her attention once again. It was the woman again, and she seemed bothered by something. They locked eyes for a moment then Jackie brought her attention back to her sister. 'It's all right, Mair,' she mumbled softly as she stroked her sister's hand once again. Looking down, she saw the reader sticking out of her purse. 'Of course,' she mumbled as she reached down for it. It had been a long time since she had read out loud for anyone. Picking randomly, she opened one of the books stored in it, and began reading the words softly. 

Some time later Mair slowly turned her head towards her sister. 'Jackie?' she said softly. The sedative was still in her system and it showed in her voice.

Jackie put the book down quickly. 'Welcome back,' she answered softly. 'I'm glad to see you're awake.'

'I can't see. . .' Mair's voice trailed off.

'I know. Your inner ear was damaged. The doctors covered your eyes so you won't have to deal with vertigo.'

'And the baby?' Mair's voice had an odd strained sound to it.

This was one thing Jackie was happy to report on, 'She's fine. Yes, she's 8 weeks early, but the doctors and nurses have her in an artificial womb to help her finish developing.'

Even with the fairly good news Mair still turned her head towards the other wall.

'I received a message from Jerry,' Jakcie started slowly. 'He really wishes he could be here, but can't with the current circumstances.'

Mair answered softly, 'I know.'

'He did something surprising. He gave the doctors your choice for a name,_Deidre__Elizabeth_.'

It was a hollow victory considering her current circumstances. 'He hated that name,' Mair mumbled. It also made her realize just how petty their arguments had been.

* * *

Laura sat down with a sigh in her new office. Yesterday's events hadn't gone as smoothly as she'd thought they would. And now? Now she was settled into her new residence. Everything from her old office in _Colonial One_ had been transferred over to the new place along with all her personal possessions. All she had was what could be fit into a small suitcase.

And then there was Captain O'Neill. All she wanted to do was to check up on her to see how she was doing. What she'd seen at the hospital, though. . . The Terran captain always seemed to be in control. To see her panicking was extremely disturbing.

"Ma'am?" Billy stepped into the still sparsely decorated office. "You received a call from the offic of Prime Minister Hamilton."

Laura snapped back from her musing and looked at her senior aide for a moment. "Okay," she nodded. "What did they want?"

The aide sat down in one of the open chairs while answering, "Prime Minister Hamilton had received word about your trip to Avalon. Parker wanted to let you know that it is common courtsey to pay a visit to the sitting leader."

_Oh great_, Laura closed her eyes in resignation. _Just what I need._ "What else did he say?"

Billy looked down at his notes before speaking, "Ma'am, I did explain to him that we haven't had to deal with anything remotely similar to this in over forty years. He seemed to accept my answer."

"Thank you, Billy," Laura told him. _There's so many things that are different._ When the conversation was finally finished, Laura looked at her desk and then to the two flags placed strategically behind her. They were the flags of the government and the executive office. Since they were now on only one world, she realized they would eventually reach the point where only one flag was needed. 

The floor to ceiling windows gave her a panoramic view of the lovely countryside. Compared to Caprica, Pictavia was an extremely rural world. From what she had been able to gather, most of the economy was based on agriculture. In that respects it made the planet similar to Leonis. _They're spending a lot of money to help us_, she thought. _We will never truly be able to repay them for their generosity._

Being a rural world, an agriculture based economy was a gift from the gods, she mused. That, above anything else, was what they really needed to help them get back on their feet.

* * *

Bill Adama looked at the reports from the FTL tests Garner was overseeing. There was a small problem with their navigation, but it had been quickly sorted out. They were now heading back to the Pictavian system. From the reports he had received, it looked as if the tests went well. Now, all he had to do was to start the laborious process of upgrading both battlestars.

Which was next on his list of things to do. He didn't find it that surprising that he was just as busy while in a safe port as when he was making sure the fleet was protected. Once everything seemed to be in order, he gathered up the paperwork and had the comm. officer notify Admiral Jackson that he was ready to meet him. 

The meeting wasn't one that was decided on in the spur of the moment. Jackson knew Adama was running tests on the FTL drive. The Pict Admiral also knew that it could be sooner or later before he got any word when meeting could take place.

The trip down to the planet and towards the Pict naval base took longer that Adama anticipated. It gave the Aurorian time to think about how he and Jackson were going to integrate the two navies. They had several capital ships, but they were all smaller than a battlestar. He could already tell that his two ships were going to be a welcome addition to the now combined navy. He pushed that out of his mind when they landed.

It had been some time since he had seen Jackson, but that didn't mean they hadn't been in communications with each other. From what he had gleaned, Jackson was working on something. The only thing he could think of that would fit was the upgrade.

As he stepped out of the raptor, he found a vehicle waiting for him. "Sir," the driver addressed him while opening the door. "Admiral Jackson sent me over to pick you up."

Adama let a ghost of a smile cross his face before answering, "Thank you. . ." He hesitated, still not completely sure how the rank system worked with the Picts, or what the pins looked like.

"Lieutenant Jones, sir," the officer answered before closing the door. The officer quickly slid into the driver's seat on the right side and started up the engine. The trip to Jackson's office was over before Adama realized, and soon he was being escorted through the corridors and into what looked like a reception area.

"Admiral Adama." What could only be considered a receptionist stood up and moved towards another door. "They're ready to talk to you."

_What?_ Adama stopped short, not quite sure what the lower ranked officer meant. Seeing there was nothing else he could do, Adama followed him into the office. This was the first time he actually was able to see Jackson's office. But what surprised him was that it was empty.

"This way, sir," he was directed to another door. This one, he soon realized, was some sort of conference room. And it wasn't empty. Several unknown officers and civilians were seated around the oval conference table along with Jackson.

"Welcome," Jackson got up from his seat and extended a hand in greeting.

"Thank you." Adama paused before taking the proffered hand. "Can they?" he indicated the others.

"Understand you?" Harold looked back to the group waiting expectantly before answering, "In varying degrees."

Adama looked at the group warily before sitting down in the proffered chair. Hearing the group talk quietly amongst themselves made him realize that he needed to at least learn to understand English.

Jackson began by indicating the gathered group. "Admiral Adama, the men and women gathered here have been working on an upgraded system for your two capital ships."

"Battlestars," Adama corrected.

Jackson nodded. "Battlestars. They're engineers and computer analysts," he explained. "They're the ones that have come up with designs for the hardware and software upgrades."

Jackson's explanation surprised Adama. He thought this meeting was to be the initial discussions for the upgrade. The Picts seemed to be very eager in getting their plans implemented sooner rather than later. He could also tell the men and women were eager to share what they had decided on. It was fine with him up to a point. What Adama really wanted was for Gaeta to look over the plans and give his say on what he thought about the upgrades. If they had found Terra only months after the Holocaust, then it would have been Baltar that he would have tapped to look over it. The scientist's ensuing descent into madness was a sad reality of the cost of what they all had gone through.

"I will not sign off on anything until I have one of my own officers look over the upgrades," Adama explained as he sat down. As he looked around the table, he watched as some of the more knowledgeable in his language were whispering to some of the others. Once they all knew what he was asking, they nodded in agreement. Seeing that he was understood, Adama turned his attention back to Jackson, "What do you have in mind?"

"We draft system for anywhere access data," one of the civilians answered. Her language skills were enough for him to understand what she was talking about. When he thought about it he realized what they were planning on doing. "No. There will be no networks on either ship."

"Admiral," Jackson started, "You haven't even heard of what they have in mind."

"It doesn't matter. There will be no networks on my ships while I'm in command," Adama countered. _They have no idea_. . .he realized when he saw their confusion. "Listen, eighteen months ago our civilization was obliterated by way of a network. At the time the _Galactica_ was the only ship to survive because I refused to have the computers networked. The _Pegasus_ blind jumped away from the Picon ship yards before she was shut down and destroyed. This is why I will not have a network placed on either ships."

Jackson tried "Have you been able to identify the Cylons that infiltrated your society?"

"All but one."

"Could you persons look?" The one that spoke before pushed a datastick towards Adama.

"No." Adama didn't even have to think about it. He knew networking would only bring more disasters on the people he was charged to protect.

Jackson closed his eyes in resignation. The meeting was not going the way he wanted it to go. He understood the Aurorian's reasoning, but thought he was taking it too far.

"Admiral, I know what you're thinking," Adama said softly. "But I will not change my decision." He indicated the stick while continuing, "And if I did, we don't have the equipment to read that."

TBC……..


	8. Chapter 8

**Reversus Patria**

Part: 8  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.  
Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Eight**_

With hardly anything to do, the days seemed to crawl by. The only thing Felix Gaeta did on a regular basis was sleep. The doctors seemed to approve of his actions, and so they didn't bother him that much, unless it was to check on his recovery. At least he could now sit up without getting those annoying dizzy spells. Once he could sit up on a consistent basis he started asking for things like how the vid system worked or at least something to read. He had already memorized how many tiles were on the ceiling.

He ignored the sound of the door opening. Nine chances out of ten the person or persons coming into the room were stationed on the ship.

'Hey,' Angela's voice easily brought him out of his funk.

He turned to look at the door, careful not to move too quickly. She was standing just inside the room holding a cup with some sort of liquid in one hand and a PDA in the other. Her mood easily matched his.

'I've got something for you. It's from Captain Agathorn.' Glennan handed over the PDA.

'What is it?' he asked as he shifted positions. He found it interesting that his lower back was starting to ache from sitting up in bed.

Angela shook her head. 'Not sure, he said it was for your eyes only.'

Holding the small computer he looked at her closely. 'Are you okay?'

Glennan seemed to hesitate before sitting down in the available chair. She shook her head, 'Not really. All I seem to be able to hold down is this sports drink.' Angela tilted the cup so he could see its orange contents. She let out a half hearted grin, 'I don't even want to head near the mess right now.'

'Do they know about this?' he asked, concern in his voice.

'Yes. And it's also normal. It's called morning sickness.' Her head suddenly looked to the door. Moments later, she bolted for the head and slammed the door shut. Not knowing what was going on, he looked to the door she disappeared through and then to the door that opened out into the corridor. Muffled sounds from the head competed with the sound of a cart being moved towards his room. The cart soon won the competition and he watched as one of the techs wheeled it through the door. There were several covered trays placed on the different levels.

Because of how much he was sleeping, Gaeta had no idea what time it was. So it wasn't a surprise to find that it looked like the evening meal. Another sound from the head caught the tech's attention. 'Is someone in there?' the tech asked as he wheeled the movable table into place.

Felix nodded. 'Yes. It's Captain Glennan.'

The tech nodded while placing the tray on the table. 'I'll get the doctor,' he said as he pushed the cart out of the room. He immediately went in the direction he had come from, supposedly to call one of the physicians. The doctor that was working the current shift came through the door soon afterwards and immediately went to the head. He knocked, then pushed the door open. The voices that eventually came from the small room was too low for Gaeta to understand, so he went back to his dinner.

When the doctor finally left the room, Angela made her appearance. If anything she looked worse in his eyes. 'This is why I can't go to the mess,' she grumbled as she sat down. 'Even the smell of food makes me nauseous.'

Feeling bad for her, he finished the rest of the meal in short order. There wasn't much there to begin with since he had only recently begun eating solid food. He pushed the movable table away and picked up the PDA.

'You said I received something from Agathorn?' he asked as he messed with the small computer.

'Yes. There are several big files.' Angela took a small sip of her drink, then grimaced. She quickly explained, 'It's the only way to keep me from getting dehydrated; it also has the electrolytes that my body requires.' Glennan sighed while setting it down.

'Looks like it leaves a bad taste in your mouth,' Gaeta said absently.

'Not really. It's the aftertaste of. . .' She indicated the door into to head.

He looked at her in sympathy before bringing his attention back to the PDA. 'Helo sent it.' He looked to the monitoring equipment before continuing, 'I'm not sure if your hospitals are set up the same way.'

'What do you mean?' Glennan asked in confusion.

'On Caprica, wireless devices were not allowed in hospitals. It was reported that the signals that they produced would interfere with the hospital equipment,' he explained.

'Same here. I can have it dumped into a laptop that won't put out any signals, that is if you want.' She shrugged noncommittally.

In answer, he handed the PDA back to Glennan. 'There are several very large files. I would think those would be image files?' he asked.

'Yes.' Glennan looked through the index to make sure. 'Image files are notorious for hogging space. I'll have it dumped into a computer that has a decent screen. It shouldn't take too long.' Once she got to her feet, she leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. 'Like I said, it shouldn't take that long.' Glennan collected her now empty cup and the PDA, then left the room.

True to her word, she was back in less than an hour, though that hour felt longer than expected. During that time, the techs had moved in and out of his room for their daily rounds. The meal tray had been removed some time ago, and now he had a large insulated mug for water. What he wanted was a strong cup of coffee. As of this point, the doctors didn't want him to ingest any caffeine. When Glennan stepped into the room she was carrying one of their portable laptops. It easily fit on the movable table. She plugged a cord into what looked like a wall socket and then turned on the computer.

'It doesn't have any batteries, so I have to plug it into the electrical wall socket,' she explained while waiting for the system to boot up.

Gaeta nodded, 'We had some things like that. I have a clock that was powered by electricity.'

'Okay,' Glennan muttered as she messed with the computer. 'Don't try to get onto the net. It won't work on this ship.' After a few more minutes, she turned the computer back around and pointed to one of the buttons. 'This button will let you scroll down through the information. And this will let you access the other files,' Glennan showed by way of explanation.

"T-thank you," he said.

'There's a lot of information there for you to look over. I did have to look at some of it to make sure that everything was crossdecking properly. Because it's for your eyes only, I won't talk about it.' She got up while commenting, 'The doctor wants to take a look at me because of my bowing down to the porcelain goddess.'

_What?_ 'What do you mean?' Felix was completely confused at the comment. 'I thought you believed in a male god.'

Angela grinned in amusement before answering, 'I picked that up from an American officer. It's one of their many ways of saying that they were vomiting. Much more amusing than the term my parents used.'

Her explanation cleared up the confusion, but it still bothered him somewhat. 'I understand,' Gaeta said slowly, then watched as she left the room.

His concern was forgotten as he opened up the first file. It was a letter from Helo explaining that the coming images and plans were for the upgrades for the computer systems on the battlestars. He also commented wryly that it took some convincing on his part to get the information sent out in the first place. Adama did not want to have anything to do with the new system once he found that it was networked based. _Please make sure that there is no backdoor into the system,_ Helo ended the short letter.

"I'll do m-my best," Felix muttered as he opened up the first file. What he found was very interesting to say the least. The best he could describe it was that there would be multiple networks on the ship. Each network would be dedicated to a single system set, like communications or weapons. That way if and when they were attacked again by the Cylons, the ship wouldn't loose internal control. They would still have to manually transfer information from one network to another. They did that anyway, so it wouldn't be that big of a change. In fact, it looked like there would be no change to their current systems.

One interesting thing was that there was to be an overlay for a new communications network. From what he could tell, it would be completely separate from their current comm. systems. It reminded him of the quick way Angela communicated with members of her original crew. That would be a definite plus, especially in finding the marines on short notice.

The idea intrigued him. It was also something that could easily be set up on the _Galactica_ with minimal alteration to the system already in use. The rarely used mainframe computer could be refurbished and this new system could easily be installed. He wasn't quite sure about the _Pegasus_. All he knew about that ship was that her network had been down when the attack came. Cain might have brought it up, but he wasn't sure. He shuddered, recalling what happened when he did network the systems and what happened in the aftermath of it. That was something he did not want to happen again. This system looked to solve many of those issues.

Now to look for any hidden programming. The only thing he figured he could do was to look at every line of code that was written for the upgrades. This, for sure, would keep him busy for some time to come. At least he had something constructive to do now. He hated being bored out of his mind.

* * *

Agent Robert Goren walked through the corridors of the trauma center. He was hoping that Captain O'Neill was strong enough to answer some questions. Goren had been to this hospital many times over the course of his years in the CID. His contact within the hospital had mentioned that she seemed awake, though it was difficult to tell either way with her eyes still covered. As he passed the nurses desk the sound of someone talking softly piqued his interest. It took only a few more steps before he could tell who the voice belonged to.

He leaned up against the door with folded arms and watched the scene. It didn't take long before he remembered who Captain O'Neill's visitor was. She was her sister. Pulling out his PDA, he looked up the woman's name. When she came to a stopping point in the book she finally seemed to take notice that there was someone watching.

As she set the electronic book on the movable table, he stepped into the room. Goren nodded and asked, 'I'd like to ask Captain O'Neill some questions, if she's able.'

Jackie brought her attention back to her sister before answering, 'You can try.' She hesitated before continuing, 'Do you want me to move?'

'No, that's all right,' Robert answered with a wave of his hand. He moved o the other side of the bed and grasped a free wrist to see if she was awake. 'Captain O'Neill? Mair?'

At the sound of her name, Mair slowly turned her head in the voice's direction. 'Yes?' she said slowly barely above a whisper.

'I'm Agent Goren from the CID, and I've been investigating your case.' He hesitated, not sure if she was going to respond or not. When she didn't, he continued, 'Can you remember anything about what happened?'

After a few minutes Mair slowly shook her head.

To keep her from doing anything else he said, 'Don't worry about it. Your memories should start coming back when you're stronger.' Feeling he couldn't do anything more, Goren released her wrist and took a step back from the bed.

As he was leaving O'Neill's hospital room, Jackie caught his attention. 'Is that normal?' she asked as she looked back into the room. They were now standing out in the corridor.

Goren took a guess, 'Not remembering what happened? Yes. In most traumatic situations, the mind blocks it out so as to not have to deal with it during the aftermath. She should start remembering soon enough.'

Jackie seemed to mull the information over before responding, 'I will let you know if she remembers anything.'

'Okay.' Goren reached for his wallet and pulled out an old style card and handed to her. 'You can reach me at this number.' He looked back into the room for a moment, then brought his attention back to Jackie. ''We also have counselors on staff. . .That is if she really needs their services.'

'I think it is too soon to even contemplate something like that. I will keep that in mind.' She paused a moment before indicating the business card, 'Thank you.' When he nodded, she went back into the room and put the card in her purse then picked up the book.

* * *

"What the frak happened," Cavil ground out to the other humaniformed Cylons present.

For once the other models seemed to be at a loss for words. It had been a long time since they had been completely surprised. The last time anything remotely similar happened had been when they had lost their tylium mine to the humans. Apparently the same person who had thought out the human's battle plan then was with the new humans.

"These Terrans are different," a Doral model finally spoke.

"They're _human_,' Cavil almost spat out the word. "They can't be that different. Humans are humans and are only out for their own greed." Cavil seemed to be satisfied with his choice of words.

"If they're humans and act the same, then you should know what to expect out of them. You had one of your models studying them for a long time," a Three said boldly.

Cavil glared at her before turning his attention back to the group.

"Their ships aren't as strong as the battlestars," Leoben commented.

_I might have to do that_, Cavil thought. "Send out the scouts. I want to know where the Terran fleets are located." He looked up to the map. It clearly showed the Terrans beginning to make serious inroads into Cylon territory. They had already been pushed back almost a quarter the distance to Kobal. That was not a good sign. He turned his attention back to Leoben. "Not as strong?" he asked with a smug grin on his face. "That is definitely something we will have to take full advantage of."

"We can't use the virus," Three said slowly. "They send something back."

Doral shuddered, "We had to completely destroy those ships so whatever they sent wouldn't get uploaded."

An Eight stepped into the room for the first time. "The scouts have returned. They found a smaller Terran fleet."

"Send two basestars and have them eliminated," Cavil ordered.

Eight nodded while relaying the orders. Thirty minutes later the two basestars jumped back into range and reported their success.

TBC…….


	9. Chapter 9

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 9  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.  
Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Nine**_

_Lieutenant Willson sighed as he looked at the communiqué_that had just came through. It was not good, for the Cylons at least. It was common knowledge that the worse the information that was received, the harder Orbach became, harder on the enemy that is. He had also become very tightlipped about the messages that were coming through from Pictavia. It was understandable, and he didn't push that particular issue.

This was different, he thought as he requested entrance into Orbach's office. Earlier, he could just walk in, but things were different now.

'_Enter.'_

'Sir?' Willson started as he stepped through the airlock. 'We just received word about the _SanJac_ battlegroup.' He handed over the old style piece of paper.

'Damn,' Jeremiah muttered as he read through the message. 'You're dismissed,' he told the officer as he reached over for his personal comm. system. As the door closed behind the much younger ranked officer, he keyed in the direct line to Izaguerre's office. 'Captain, I need you to come to my office.'

'_Yes, sir.'_

He disconnected the line and then called Willson, 'Lieutenant?'

'_Yes, sir?'_ the lieutenant responded promptly.

'I need you to get Windsor on the scrambler.'

'_Do you need a conference setup, sir?'_

Jeremiah shook his head. 'No, Lieutenant, that's not necessary.'

As Izaguerre was sitting down in his office the comm. sounded. 'Orbach.'

'_Sir, I have Captain Windsor on the line,'_ Willson reported.

'Good.' He paused before continuing, 'Captain?'

'_Read you loud and clear. How me, sir?'_

'Same here.' Jeremiah looked back over to the _Invincible_'s captain for a moment before continuing, 'Stephen, I have Captain Izaguerre in my office with me. I wanted to talk to both of you about news I recently received.' He looked down to the paper once again and fiddled with it for a moment. 'It seems that the _SanJac_ battlegroup were caught completely unawares by the Cylons. There were no survivors.'

Sergio's eyes widened in shock, '_Madre Dios_,' he muttered while crossing himself.

'_Good God! All of them?'_

'Yes. Now I didn't particularly care for Franchetti, but he did command one of the smaller battlegroups.'

'_What are you proposing to do, sir?'_

'We move forward. The Admiralty will inform the family members what happened.' Orbach leaned back in his chair and gave Sergio a good look. 'This is the reason I wanted to talk to both of you. I didn't want you learning about Franchetti through the rumor mill. As soon as I have the coordinates worked out they will be distributed to everyone.' He leaned forward and picked up a stylus. 'Dismissed.'

'Yes, sir,' Izaguerre stood and braced himself before leaving.

'_Hood out.'_

As soon as he was alone Orbach leaned back in his chair again and let out a sigh. It was true, he didn't really care for Giovanni, but it was a bitch to have that happen. He also didn't want to strike back at the Cylons in revenge, that was not the way to handle the situation. The best thing to do was exactly what he told the two officers he had just dismissed, and that was to push forward.

Several hours later the Terran fleet moved into hyperspace. From the mechanical Cylons they had recovered from the _Yorktown_, they were able to dissect the memory chips and surmise what places the Cylons considered important. One was a planet that was a fair distance away, but easily reachable. That was the planet Orbach decided to head for. No one had any idea if they would be met by the Cylons, but that was a chance they had to take. War was more about chance and luck than actual strength.

As soon as they reached the general area he called for fleet wide GQ and had the weapons armed and ready. Added to that, he decided to have the Aurorian officers on the main command bridge of the _Invincible_. They were from this area and would have a general idea of where they were located. Yes, they had star charts, but it was good to have someone that had been in that area to verify the information.

Orbach looked at the now three officers. They were tired. They were _all_ tired. The Aurorians more than anyone else. With the additional three people, the bridge had become that much smaller. Just as it was timed, the ships started dropping out of hyperspace and emerged with a spray of energy into real space. The only thing there to meet them was the planet floating in space like a blue green jewel illuminated by the star it orbited. 'Scan the area. I don't want to be caught by surprise,' Orbach quickly ordered.

'Aye, aye,' a voice responded. There were a few tense minutes before the same voice answered, 'It's clear.'

'Good.' Jeremiah turned his attention back to the Aurorians, they had been talking quietly amongst themselves, but watching the screens the entire time.

'Do you recognize the planet? The mechanical Cylon didn't have a name attached to it,' the Terran Admiral asked.

The three officers slowly nodded. 'I never expected or wanted to see this place again,' Lee muttered.

This was not expected. 'What's your reasoning?'

'The planet is cursed, and the price is in blood,' Kara said darkly.

'Contact!' the navigation officer yelled then slapped his hand on the red alert call. They were already at General Quarters, so they weren't completely unprepared.

Both Starbuck and Apollo were turning to leave when Orbach ordered them to stay put. 'How many?' Orbach ordered when he turned his attention back to the navigation officer.

The young man scanned the information scrolling across his screen for a moment before answering, 'Four, sir. Four basestars have jumped in just out of our missile range.'

'They learn fast,' Jeremiah muttered as he turned his attention back to the large hi-def screens. The basestars just sat there, doing nothing. _And now you're seeing who blinks first_, he thought. _It's not going to happen_. 'And our fighters?'

'Ready to launch, sir.'

Orbach turned to look at the two Aurorian pilots, he could easily tell they were itching to get into a fighter. 'No, you're to stay here,' he told them as he turned his attention back to the Cylons.

Orbach wasn't disappointed when the Cylons seem to explode towards them with both missiles and raiders. 'Launch fighters,' he ordered. 'And make sure that our data streams are protected.'

The missiles reached the fleet long before the raiders, but with the added protection of the ecm. . .They would need more help. As of this time, no one was able to create a workable "shield" that didn't drain the energy systems in a ship. The best they could do were counter measures and try to trick the missiles into missing the ships.

It would only work so far, for the Cylons had launched a huge number of them.

'Sir, some of those missiles will get through,' Sergio said softly.

'I know.' Jeremiah looked at the screen while continuing, 'Launch missiles.'

'Launching missiles, sir!' the weapons officer called out.

'Incoming!' the same officer called out. Moments later the ship shuddered and the materials it was made out of let out a low groan while the power went out. The gravity and life support held steady with those generators being in another area of the ship. What seemed like an eternity passed before the emergency lights snapped on.

'Damage report?' Jeremiah climbed to his feet where he had been thrown.

'Sir, primary power's been knocked off line. AUX is holding while primary is being restored.' the officer of the watch reported.

'Tell me something I don't know,' Orbach answered tiredly.

Seconds later the regular lights snapped back on. As the screen focused it revealed the vicious battle that was happening just outside. The fighters were holding their own against the Cylon raiders, which was a good thing. It actually looked like the they were beginning to get the upper hand, but only at a bitter cost. What looked like a quarter of the ships had been disabled. And like a shark, the Cylons could sense blood with those disabled ships.

One good sign was the sight of one of the Cylon basestars drifting towards a second basestar. As the two touched, it set off explosions destroying both large ships. 'Do we have that worm in the system?' Orbach asked while still watching the screen intently.

'Yes, sir!' a voice called out. It only then occurred to Orbach that he didn't know who the command officers were.

'Send it out as soon as it's ready.' The Admiral turned to say something to Izaguerre, only to find out that he had been knocked unconscious when the missiles had struck, or exploded extremely close to the ship. Several medics were working over the injured officer. When they reached a stopping point, they moved him to a stretcher and carried him, along with the other injured, into the corridor.

As expected the two remaining basestars began to drift aimlessly, but there were not close enough to run into each other. One basestar seemed to suddenly stop and then disappear through their FTL drive leaving one in the hands of the Terrans.

'See if we can completely disable it. I want to see how one of those basestars work.'

'Are you crazy. . .sir?' Starbuck blurted out.

Orbach sighed, 'Lieutenant, if you recall, this was part of the briefings you received when you first joined the _Yorktown_. I suggest you keep that in mind. And keep your mouth shut.'

'That's the only warning you're going to get,' Logan told the angry Aurorian. 'Next time if you interfere, you will be removed.' The American looked back to Orbach and then to Thrace once again. 'Next time. . .' he let the words sink in before he moved away from the two officers.

Kara seemed to suddenly realize what she had just done, but she didn't apologize.

"This isn't the _Galactica_, Kara," Lee said softly.

"Frak off," she ground out. She was so furious that she was physically shaking. As soon as he touched her shoulder she physically brushed it off.

'That's enough.'

Lee cringed inwardly at the command tone that came from Admiral Orbach. Kara didn't seem to notice anything that was going on.

Orbach looked hard at the Aurorian then turned and addressed one of the marines on duty, 'Marine, remove Lieutenant Thrace.' Even with her petulant attitude, she readily left without any further actions.

Jeremiah turned to look back at the screen. 'Do we still have that virus where we can control the vessel that's infected?' The two basestars looked to be completely crippled. With two destroyed and the remaining two Cylon capitals out of action, the Terran forces were eagerly mopping up the Cylon fighters that did not jump away.

'Aye, sir!' the munitions officer answered eagerly.

'Make sure our systems are secure before sending it out.'

'Aye, aye,' the younger officer answered more somberly. He knew the risks better than anyone else what that virus could do.

'You can send it when ready.'

'Sending. . .now.' The munitions officer announced.

'Now, all we have to do is wait,' Orbach muttered as he watched the screen.

"Beaten at their own game," Lee muttered loud enough for Kelly to hear. 'Sir, what about the ship's systems?' he asked loud enough for Orbach to hear him.

Instead of the Terran admiral answering, it was the munitions officer who responded, 'Major, our system is immune to this particular type of worm.'

'Are you sure?' Lee wasn't sure at all.

'Major, this was developed during the Martok War. It's proven technology for us,' Orbach explained.

'I'm sorry, but I'll never really trust it,' Kelly shook his head.

'Got it!' the weapons officer said triumphantly. 'The basestar is under our control.'

'Tenuous?' Orbach moved towards the officer.

'Not sure at the moment, sir. We haven't done this since. . .'

'I know. From what I remember, we should have a pretty strong grasp.' He gave a few orders and was pleased when the ship responded. 'Purge life support and cut all power on the basestar.'

It took a moment before Lee realized what just happened. 'How. . .'

'Don't dish it out if you can't take it,' Jeremiah muttered with a slight grin on his face while ignoring Lee's question. 'Lets see what we've got,' he muttered as he plugged into the ship's camera systems. It wasn't a pretty sight. Most if not all of the humaniformed Cylons were either dead, or close to dying. In what could only be called the command center there was a dark pool of fluid with something floating within it.

Orbach knew he had to have his people work fast. It would only be a matter of time before the Cylons came back to avenge what had been done to them, or they'd wizen up and find that the Terrans aren't that easy to stop.

* * *

Laura Roslin briskly walked through the somewhat familiar corridors of the only trauma hospital on Pictavia. She found it interesting that the military used it just as much as the civilians. That made her wonder how the medical system was set up on the former colony world.

Earlier in the day she had made a courtesy call to the prime minister, which was something she had learned to do very quickly, and they were able to discuss several of the growing issues between the two governments. Afterwards, she decided to talk to Captain O'Neill even if there were someone in the room with her. She only hoped that she was doing better. When she had been here earlier it had disturbed her to see the Terran captain in distress. The younger woman always seemed in control, even when she had had her earlier health issues to deal with.

The floor was just as quiet as she remembered, which was nice in a way. It made her realize just how noisy Life Station was on the _Galactica_. But that couldn't be helped. Still, she was grateful for the care she received while on board the battlestar, but it wasn't the same as what they had while on Caprica. The Terran hospitals were similar to theirs in that respect.

Roslin stopped once she reached the room Captain O'Neill was recovering in. The door was almost shut which made her think that her visitor was there. She quietly pushed the door opened and was surprised to find that the Terran captain was alone. With her eyes still bandaged, it was difficult to tell if she was awake or not.

Making her decision, she moved into the room and gently sat down in one of the available chairs. Sitting on a platform bolted into the wall was the Terran's version of a video, but it was dark. The only sounds in the room came from the medical equipment that constantly monitored O'Neill's vital signs. What it showed was completely foreign to her, but the sound was hypnotizing in a way.

'Excuse me?' a female voice asked from just outside in the corridor catching her attention.

Laura got up and went out to meet two individuals that were there. She recognized the woman, but not the man that was with her. "I'm sorry. . .I can't understand you. . ." she gave them a somewhat helpless look.

The couple spoke quietly for a moment then he turned back to her and said, "I'm sorry. This is Jackie Grogan, Captain O'Neill's sister. She wants to know who you are and why you are here again?"

It surprised her to suddenly be able to understand what he said. "You can speak. . ."

"Yes," he answered.

"I'm President Laura Roslin. I was here to check up on Captain O'Neill and to see how she's doing." She paused before continuing, "Who are you?"

"Ma'am. I'm Agent Goren. I'm the lead investigator in finding out who did this to Captain O'Neill."

Roslin nodded. "That's good. Now, if you will excuse me." She quickly brushed past the two and headed towards the elevators. It's not that she was embarrassed at being found there. . .or maybe it was. It was something she couldn't make her mind up about. Her guards met her as she reached the elevator and the three of them quickly reached the bottom floor and then out the front of the building.

The whole scene made her realize that she'll probably need to learn English at some point in time, at least to be able to greet the Picts. After a quick shuttle hop, she found herself back in Aurora City. As she sat down at her desk she realized she never did check to see if Captain O'Neill was awake or not. At least they were actively investigating the events around what happened to the Terran.

"Ma'am?" Billy came into her office with several folders. "The government building is just about finished. The Quorum is planning on having a formal ceremony to dedicate it next week."

"They've been building very fast," she commented as she took the materials.

"I would think it's because we finally have a place to settle down without having to worry about the Cylons finding us."

"Which reminds me," she looked at him and then the old whiteboard she had brought with her from _Colonial One_. "Have the babies started coming yet?"

Billy had the decency to blush before speaking, "Uh. . .no yet, ma'am. I've been assured by the Pict doctors that there will be a population boom for several years. The American doctors told me that it had happened at least once before."

"And how is Dee? I haven't seen her in a while."

He seemed to relax for a moment before answering, "Better, ma'am. The doctors mentioned that her hormones are supposed to fluctuate at this time."

TBC…….


	10. Chapter 10

**Reversus Patria**

Part: 10  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh

Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Ten**_

Jeremiah looked at the screen intently. He could just make out the small shuttle that was on its way to the basestar. The Terran admiral made sure that they were ready for anything that might happen while nearing the large ship. They were being escorted by two of their fighters, that way there wouldn't be any surprises. So far, there hadn't been any, which was good. He hated surprises, especially at this point in time.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the airlock being pulled open. The sight of Sergio carefully stepping into the room surprised most everyone there. For a moment he wanted to order the younger man back to sick bay, but even he understood the fact that everyone was needed, even when they were not at their best.

The El Salvadorian stood there for a moment before deciding to head back out the way he came. It had only been an hour since he had been knocked unconscious. The sight of Sergio heading back out the airlock and into the corridor relieved him more than he expected. Turning his attention back to the officers around him he knew he didn't have to remind them to keep close watch on the computer systems. He was going to wait in the command center until he knew for certain that the men and women in the shuttle were safely back and had reported their findings. Once that was completed, there were a few people he needed to talk to concerning their actions earlier in the day.

It seemed like an eternity passed before word came back about the shuttle landing in what looked like a landing bay. There was another delay before the officers and marines left the safety of the shuttle and assembled in the docking area. Before they opened the hatch, they made sure that the exterior environment was on par with what a human could tolerate safely. Since they were in control of the vessel, the Terrans were able to pressurize and activate the gravity control systems. That made it easier to maneuver around. All they needed were gas masks to make sure they were not breathing anything poisonous.

'_The atmosphere beyond the shuttle has been pressurized to something compatible to what human body can tolerate,'_ the pilot reported back. _'We are egressing the shuttle.' _

'Copy,' the comm. officer answered. 'You are good to go. And good luck.'

'_Copy.'_

The exterior cameras on the shuttle were angled in such a way so you couldn't see the men and women slowly exiting the small vehicle. Soon enough, you could see them slowly making their way to what looked like an airlock. Once out of range of the shuttle's cameras, the view changed to one of the helmet cameras on the lead marine. Even though they were plugged into the ships camera system, it wasn't the same as having someone there.

The Terrans remained silent as they slowly worked their way deeper into the ship. They were headed towards the ship's command center. Yes, they had control of the basestar, but Orbach wanted to make sure that they kept that control.

The Terrans watched in the _Invincible_'s command center just how poorly the basestar had been designed. Apparently they thought size meant easier intimidation. The Cylons were right in that respect, but for the frigate class that had the larger weapon, it only meant that it was an easier target to hit.

It took some time, but they finally reached what seemed like the control room. There were several biological Cylons, 'skin jobs' the Aurorians called them, in various contorted positions. Their last few moments had not been pretty as they died from lack of oxygen. The 'centurions' stood in silent guard on either side of the doors, their facemask dark. If the stench of death was prevailing in the room, the gas masks filtered it out.

'Don't touch anything,' the lead marine said as he gingerly stepped over the bodies.

'Aye, aye,' came the chorus of voices letting him know they understood.

'_Invincible_, this is cmd1. We have reached what looks like the command center,' the same marine reported into his microphone.

'_Copy cmd1. We read you loud and clear. What's your status?'_

'Shouldn't take too long. Everything looks to be deactivated,' he swept his flashlight around the room so he could get a better look through the dim lighting. 'Can we get more light?' he requested.

Moments later the lights flashed on, along with the power into the computer system.

'Shit!' one marine in the back hissed as he caught the others attention. Several whirled around, only to be faced with several centurions moving across the chamber and raising their arms up to show their wicked looking guns.

'Duck for cover!' one yelled as they bolted in different directions, their own weapons at the ready.

'Not good, this is not good,' the lead marine muttered as he used the pool in the center of the room as cover and pulled out his own weapon. Cylon style bullets were already flying across the chamber, searching out the Terrans who had the audacity to take over the basestar. Several tense minutes passed before the Terrans finally started getting the upper hand. With the destruction of the last Centurion, the lead marine called back, '_Invincible_, this is cmd1. Do you read?'

'_Status?'_

Jones, who was the lead marine looked at his microphone for a moment. He had not expected to hear Admiral Orbach over the wireless. 'We had a little surprise. It seemed that when the lights were activated they activated the mechanical centurions. All have been neutralized, over.'

It deafening silence seemed to last forever before the crackle of the comm. unit sounded. _'Roger. Casualties?'_

The marine scanned the room, hoping against hope that none were lost in the Cylon encounter. It looked like the worst injuries were scrapes from hitting the deck and rolling for cover. 'Everyone okay?' he asked just to make sure.

'Collins got grazed with some shrapnel. Nothing any antiseptic and bandages can't handle,' the medic of the group reported.

'Good.' He paused before speaking into the microphone, '_Invincible_, one grazed with shrapnel. We're continuing on with the exploration.'

'_You've got time. Don't rush it,_' Orbach's voice came across the speakers.

'Yes, sir,' Jones answered then deactivated his comm. unit. 'Let's see what we've got here,' he muttered as he moved over to the freestanding computers.

Orbach left the command center, fully confident that the men and women under him could do the job that was required. If anything happened, they knew to immediately reach him. What he needed to do now was to solve the issues that had boiled over in the command center between two of his officers. It's not that he didn't approve of the whole incident, what it did was undermine his authority. He wanted the men and women under him to understand that they didn't need permission for every little thing. Men and women with brains was what he really wanted.

Which was why he was not in the command center 24/7. He let the officers that knew what they were doing, handle the whole situation with the Cylons basestars. 'Erbe, I need to speak to Logan,' he told his aide while passing through her office.

'Yes, sir,' she nodded quickly.

Jeremiah continued into his office and closed the door as gently as he could. He hated doing this to any of his officers, which is why he always gave a verbal reprimand before he did anything that could possibly ruin a young officer who didn't know any better. The Terran admiral sat there thinking of what he was going to do when the door opened and Logan stepped into his office. 'You wanted to see me, sir?' the younger officer asked.

'Yes.' Orbach stood up and moved around his desk to look the officer in the eye. 'Can you explain to me your actions in the command center today concerning Thrace?'

Logan swallowed hard before finally answering, 'I was just telling her the rules, sir.'

To get his point across, he lowered his voice, 'Your actions were inappropriate while at GQ. In your view point, she may have been out of line, but she is a visiting officer and I expect you to give her the same amount of respect you give any Terran officer. Do I make myself clear?'

Logan had begun to sweat in earnest, 'Yes, sir.'

'Good.' Orbach took a step back before continuing, 'This is a warning. Next time I won't have the choice but to write you up. I would rather have this whole thing stop here before it gets any worse.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Good. You're dismissed.'

Logan saluted smartly then marched out of the office. 'I hate having to do that,' Jeremiah muttered as he rubbed his face. Now he needed to talk to Thrace. That would be a whole different affair. She was at least trying to obey his orders. He leaned over his desk and punched the comm. button. 'Erbe?'

'_Yes, sir?'_ her voice sounded almost contrite.

'I need you to find Thrace.'

'_Yes, sir,'_ she answered smartly, apparently relieved that she wouldn't bear the brunt of his anger. Before he could disconnect the line, she continued, _'Sir, they want you back in the command center.'_

'Thank you,' he answered while disconnecting the line. At least there was something else to think about rather than what he just had to do, he mused. As he left his office he couldn't help but notice that Erbe was looking at him somewhat warily. He would deal with that later, he thought as he left the area and headed back to the command center. He found it interesting that Major Adama was still there watching everything that was happening, and giving the marines warnings if they were needed. This was what he had wanted to see.

'I want to talk to Thrace,' Orbach told the younger Adama quietly. 'But not here.'

'Yes, sir,' he answered, then said louder since no one had seem to notice his arrival, 'Admiral on the bridge.'

'As you were,' Orbach answered automatically. On the screen he could see the marines had not left the room. 'Jones, what have you found?' he asked into the comm.

'_System is completely shut down, sir. We haven't had any issues dealing with the centurions since that one time when the power was activated.'_

'Good,' Jeremiah muttered.

'Sir, do you want to bring them back?'

Orbach shook his head. 'No not yet. I want them to see what we can do with that ship.'

The younger officer nodded then moved over to the comm. center. He spoke softly while holding an ear bud snuggly inside his ear, most likely to make sure he could hear what Jones was reporting about from the basestar. 'Sir, they're waiting on your orders,' he reported back.

Orbach nodded absently. He truly had no idea what to do with the ship he was now saddled with. But, he also had the chance to actually see the Cylon's technology from the inside. With that thought he made his decision. 'As soon as the supply fleet gets here, have one of them tow the basestar back.' With his decision he could clearly see the disappointment on the faces of the engineers. He understood their disappointment, but he also needed all the men and women under him focused. And the sight of the basestar was a tantalizing thought, one that would keep their minds off their duties.

With that taken care of, there was one other thing he needed to do. Orbach needed to talk to Thrace to hear her side of what happened earlier. 'I'll be in my at sea cabin,' he announced while headed towards the airlock. His mood had improved, only marginally, though, and when he reached Erbe's office, he stuck his head into the door. 'I need to talk to Thrace. Have her report here.'

'Yes, sir.' She stopped what she was doing and sent the message out to the officer. Hopefully, Thrace understood the nature of it and would answer it promptly. She did, and reported that she would be there ASAP since she was several levels below the command deck in the gym area.

The short amount of time it took her to get to Jeremiah's office let him think about what he wanted to say to her. He also knew just how long it would take for her to reach his office, then added extra time because of the heightened level of security. On a regular basis he did frequent the workout facilities, but once the activity picked up, he found it almost impossible to keep his routine up.

He was still thinking about it when the door opened up and the Aurorian officer came in. If she had been working out, it didn't show. 'You wanted to see me, sir?'

Jeremiah brought his attention to her and was surprised to see a somewhat contrite look on her face. She was a flyboy through and through, but she also seemed to understand that there were authority figures above her. It was good how she was responding to him, because just like his talk with Logan, he hated giving out reprimands.

'Yes, Captain. I wanted to talk to you about what happened in the command center earlier today.' She seemed to bristle at his words.

'Permission to speak freely, sir?'

The American looked at her for a moment before speaking, 'Permission granted.'

'Granted,' he finally answered.

The Aurorian seemed to relax before gathering her thoughts. 'What you're doing is dangerous. The Cylons want to completely eliminate us.'

'Which the Martoks tried about 20 years ago.' He noted her confusion then continued, 'Think of the Cylons with better computer technology with the guile and manipulation of the worst criminal mind you can think of. Captain, the Cylons have no idea what they've gone up against.'

'They learn fast,' she muttered.

'And hopefully they'll learn that we're not pushovers. They also don't realize that up until just recently we've been honing our electronic warfare skills against ourselves. I'm not happy about our history with that, but for once it is to our advantage. We also learned to keep all the networks separate from one another. Even if their attack manages to get into this ship, it will only effect that system. Essential systems are isolated.'

The words seemed to stop Thrace for a moment and make her think. 'So, even if they send an electronic attack it won't damage the ship?'

'No.' Jeremiah let a ghost of a smile cross his face before letting it drop. 'That's what the Cylons were not counting on. We know how to work with a compromised system, God forbid that would happen.

Jeremiah could almost see the wheels turning in Thrace's head. Even though she had been briefed early on about the capabilities the Terran ships had, it was hard to remember after five months and only two large engagements with the Cylons. 'Enough of that,' he turned businesslike. 'Your actions were not acceptable in the command center,' Orbach said as he stood up. 'I want you to limit your contact with Commander Logan to within the line of duty.'

Orbach knew Thrace was used to Admiral Adama's height, so he knew it was more intimidating to her to be faced with his 6 foot plus frame. 'Do I make myself clear? I do not want to have to make an issue out of this.'

'Yes, sir,' she seemed to shrink back.

'Captain, you're not in trouble. It's just that you and Major Adama are here only to aide in our efforts.' He hesitated before continuing, 'Good. You're dismissed,' he effectively ended the conversation but watched her out of the corner of his eyes while she quickly left the office.

* * *

Because of the eye patches, Mair had seemingly lost track of time. She had no idea what day it was, or how long she had been in the hospital. 'Jackie?' she asked softly as she turned her head slowly to the side.

'Oh, good. You're awake,' she heard her sister answer.

'What time is it?'' she asked. 'I'm not quite sure at the moment.'

'Early afternoon,' Jackie answered. 'And since you're awake, I'll let doctor know.'

Mair didn't bother to answer as the older sibling left the room. Because of the blocking of her eyesight, her hearing had become more sensitive and she could hear the somewhat muffled conversation between Jackie and what seemed to be the doctor that was currently on duty.

'Captain,' he began as he neared the side of her bed. 'I'm going to take the patches off your eyes. For the first hour or so, I do not want you moving your head at all.'

'Okay.'

For Mair it seemed like it took forever before he allowed her to open her eyes. When he did, he also ordered the lights in her room to be dimmed to something she could tolerate more easily. As her eyes cleared, she blinked the tears that were forming. 'You know, if you turned up the lights a bit I could see you better,' she said offhandedly.

'Which is a good sign. Now hold still,' the doctor, who's name she never bothered to find out, said. He leaned over and took a penlight and shined it into one, and then the other eye, making sure that everything was normal. As he stepped back he said, 'So far they look okay. How do you feel?'

'Everything looks stable,' she started then inadvertently moved her head. She closed her eyes tight and tensed up.

'He warned you not to move your head for at least an hour,' Jackie admonished her younger sister.

'Don't remind me,' Mair answered between clenched teeth. It took a few minutes, but the spinning finally subsided and she opened her eyes slowly.

The doctor had taken a few steps away and was talking quietly to Jackie. Their voices were low enough for her to not be able to understand what they were saying. 'She's actually doing quite well,' the doctor told Jackie. 'Though she'll never fully recover from the injury.'

'Will I have to keep a cane with me for balance?' Mair asked, trying to get his attention once again.

'It depends. If you're alone, then yes. Bringing a cane would be a wise decision.'

'Damn,' Mair muttered. She was so wrapped up in the new information that she didn't even notice the doctor exiting her room. Or even the fact that Jackie had followed him out into the corridor. There was a quick discussion and then he turned and left. Moments later several people arrived. One was pushing a wheelchair.

There was a flurry of activity, more than Mair could absorb. She quickly found herself blindfolded, which ironically enough felt more comforting than being without the mask, then slowly shifted into the wheelchair.

'Where are we going?' she managed to ask, surprised that she already felt fatigued.

'You'll see,' one tech said brightly. 'And you'll be glad once it's over.'

The Terran captain wasn't too sure about what was going to happen. She hated not being in control, and that's what really bothered her about the whole experience. Not for the first time did she bemoan the fact that she should have just gone home for the weekend, and not back to the liaison's residence within Aurora City. She also wished that Jerry was here. She felt so alone, more than during those five years they had been separated.

The wheelchair was silent but Mair could tell they had entered an elevator, then changed floors. It stopped and she was wheeled out into another corridor. When they finally stopped, she could hear the sounds of computer monitors. She still had no idea where she was at. For a moment she thought she was in an area for patients to relax in when they eased her into a comfortable recliner.

'Now remember, the doctor doesn't want you to make any sudden head movements,' a voice admonished her as the eye mask was removed. The sight in front of her made tears come to her eyes as one of the nurses on duty handed her a small bundle. 'Your daughter,' he said with a smile as he handed her a small bottle.

Mair somehow choked back the tears that threatened to fall and managed to ask, 'Formula?'

'No, we don't use that at all,' the nurse answered then showed how to correctly hold and feed the small infant. 'It's mother's milk.'

Mair slowly nodded as she watched her daughter feed from the small bottle. 'She's so small.'

'But healthy. Because of her weight, she won't be released from the hospital until she's reached at least 5 lbs.'

The Terran captain paid no attention to the nurse's comments, her sole attention was still on her daughter. She had never expected to have this happen, and was the best thing she could think of. When she slowly looked up, she noticed how Jackie was talking to the nurse in hushed tones. She was able to catch a word here and there, but not enough to understand the conversation. Ignoring it for the time being, she once again turned her attention back to her daughter. 'I think she's finished,' she said a little bit louder when the bottle became empty.

Reluctantly O'Neill handed Deidra back to the nurse and was somewhat complacent as they prepared her to go back to her room. The short trip had completely worn her out, though it had been worth every minute. With the mask back in place, she found herself quickly drifting off to sleep and never remembered the last part of her trip back to her room.

Once the younger woman was settled back into her bed Jackie went to talk to one of the nurses. There were a few things she wanted to make sure would happen when her sister gets released from the hospital. Her biggest concern was the need of a home healthcare nurse. She was relieved to find out that the hospital had a listing of the organizations they worked with. That made the decision easier to make. The nurse that brought her back, though wanted Mair to acquire the services of a nanny because of her current condition.

'That's the least of my concerns right now. What she needs is a home healthcare nurse. We can worry about the nanny later.'

TBC……


	11. Chapter 11

**Reversus Patria**

Part: 11  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh

Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.  
Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Eleven**_

Goren looked at his watch once again. The agent knew Admiral Adama would be there sometime soon. He just wasn't sure when. And he wasn't quite sure where he would be coming from. Admiral Jackson had mentioned to him that the Aurorian was looking over the information that his people had given him for the two battlestars. A short time later the door opened and Admiral Adama stepped inside.

The older military officer was wearing his blue day uniform with few, if any, rank pins. He was also shorter, but he carried himself with an air of confidence. Something that only years of military service created. "I am sorry to keep you waiting," he said in a gruff voice.

"That's all right, sir," Goren answered, trying to put the Aurorian admiral at ease. "I'm here because I would like your permission to talk to one of your officers."

Adama blinked in surprised. "All right," he said slowly. "Is this because of what happened to Captain O'Neill?"

"Yes, sir."

Adama's eyes narrowed slightly, "You cannot unless I am present."

"I expected nothing less." Goren hesitated for a moment before continuing, "We also have what is called the 'Miranda' rights. The person I would like to question does not have to answer anything unless their attorney is present." The words seemed to surprise Adama.

"I don't know what you mean by 'Miranda', but I do understand about civil liberties. Where will this take place?"

Goren looked out the window of the conference room and into the bullpen. The other CID officers were busy with their own cases. "If you prefer, we can have it take place here." He indicated the conference room they were sitting in at the present time. "Or we can have it in one of the interrogation rooms."

For a moment Adama leaned back a bit, as if thinking about his options. He was about to speak when Robert continued, "Everything is recorded, and we place a high priority on not forcing a confession. I'm mainly here to find out what happened, and to hopefully not have it happen again."

Adama mulled the information over for a bit before making his decision. "All right, but I want to know what this 'Miranda' is before you talk to my officer."

Goren readily agreed. "That's fine." The CID agent reached into his breast pocket and pulled out his wallet. He then pulled out a small old style business card then put the wallet back where he found it. "Sir, the Miranda rights are the legal rights of a person being either arrested or detained to remain silent in order to avoid possible self-incrimination, and to have an attorney present during the questioning."

"Sounds like the 23rd," Adama said softly.

"Excuse me?"

"The 23rd Amendment to the Articles of Colonization states that we don't have to, or will, incriminate ourselves," the Aurorian explained.

_Interesting_. "The USA has had that for many years." He didn't flinch when he felt Adama's eyes bore into him.

"Who do you need to speak with?" Adama finally asked

Goren looked down at the papers in front of him before answering, "Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla."

"Frak," Adama muttered. That was the one person he least expected.

"She was the one seen near the Liaison's residence during the time in question."

Adama was silent for a short time. "An attorney of our own choosing?"

"If one cannot be afforded. And if it ever does go to trial, then a jury of her peers will be selected."

Adama nodded thoughtfully. "We have the same thing."

"Good," Goren nodded. "Let me tell you, that makes it a whole lot easier."

The Aurorian let a flicker of a smile cross his face before it disappeared. "I will bring her here."

"She's not under arrest, only a person of interest." The agent wanted to make sure that Adama knew she wasn't the only one they had their sights on. He wasn't about to tell him that she was their best bet at the moment.

Adama knew that Goren was trying to show that Dee wasn't the one they were looking for, but he could tell that wasn't the case.

"Thank you, sir," Goren said as he rose to his feet. He knew the admiral would be back in a few hours at most.

The Aurorian admiral now stood outside Dee's civilian residence. It was one of the prefab modular homes, most of the military personnel still used the supplied housing. If they had not been offered solid shelter, he knew they would have all been in tents. It also bothered him that of all the people in the small city, it had to be Dee. She was family to him.

Adama finally knocked on the door. What surprised him was how distraught she looked when she opened the door. "Dee?" he asked.

Without a word she let him in to the small house. He knew she was scared, it came off her in waves.

"I'm sorry," she said, rubbing her face as she sat down on the couch.

"What is it?" he asked as he looked at her. It bothered him that she didn't look at him. It seemed like she was avoiding eye contact on purpose.

"I, I'm scared," she stuttered as she pressed a few sheets of paper into his hands. "I haven't looked at it yet, and I'm scared of what it might show."

Adama glanced down and read the top of the page. It didn't take long for him to realize what it was he was holding. It was one of the Cylon tests, but she had not opened it up to read the results. "The civilian authorities want to talk to you."

"I'm under arrest." She closed her eyes.

"If nothing happened, then you have nothing to worry about." He stood up while continuing, "But I do have to bring you in."

"Yes, sir," she slowly stood up. "I'm ready."

Adama opened up the test results while Dee was getting her jacket, the weather had cooled down substantially since they had first arrived. His attitude towards her changed dramatically when he read the results. Without saying a word, he pulled her out of the house and placed her in the waiting vehicle. The trip back to CID's headquarters was strained, and when they reached it Adama was in the mindset of not even going inside. She was the agent's problem now.

"Please?" Dee said with tears in her eyes. She knew what the results were just by Adama's change of attitude.

The older officer remained quiet as they reached the office building. Goren knew that he was returning, so was waiting outside for both officers. A surprised look crossed the agent's face when she was dumped out of the vehicle and left behind. Before he could move, the vehicle had left.

'What?' Goren asked in confusion. This was not expected at all. The woman that was left behind was obviously distraught. "Ma'am?" he asked.

She spun around fear clearly showing in her eyes. "Please. . .I, I didn't. . ."

"Not here," he cut her off. "There are some things I need to tell you before you even say a word." Adama might not have realized it, but everyone that lived on the planet had certain rights. There was information filtering down about other Cylons that were being held against their will. If the information was correct, then the Aurorian and possibly Pict governments were not acting with the best will of the planet's population. It was his job to make sure that the law was followed.

As she followed him into the building, she rubbed her stomach. "This isn't supposed to happen," she mumbled through her tears. Goren soon had her waiting in a small conference room. As she sat there waiting she was so frightened about what happened and what might happen that she had to clench her jaws to keep her teeth from chattering.

"Don't worry, everything is all right," Goren said gently as he closed the door.

Dee jumped at the sound of the door closing then fumbled, "I, I'm sorry."

Goren nodded while sitting down. "The first thing I want to tell you is that you do have rights." He pulled out a small card and let her know her rights within the Avalonian judicial system.

"I don't think I will be offered the services of an attorney," she said forlornly.

"Ma'am, I'm not trying to get a confession out of you. I just want to know what you remember."

"Remember?" she asked. "I don't remember anything. I was walking home, and then I found myself in another part of the city." Dee put her face in her hands.

Goren looked at her for a few minutes before responding, "Is this why I found you with the one known Cylon in Aurora?"

Dee seemed to contemplate before answering, "Yes. She told me that Boomer had the same experiences."

"Boomer?"

"Yes," Dee nodded. "Boomer was one of the clones of Cylon model number 8. That's all I really know."

_Interesting_. "Thank you," he answered. "You've been a big help to the investigation so far."

As he got up she asked, "Will I be staying here?"

"Just wait here for a few minutes. I'll let you know." Goren nodded as he left the room and gently closed the door.

Never in her life did she feel so alone. Dee put her face in her hands again. Everything was crashing down around her and there was nothing left. She knew if she set foot anywhere close to Aurora City she would be arrested and then executed; no questions asked.

Goren went over to his supervisor while keeping watch over Dee through the windows. The Aurorian had her face in her hands again. It surprised him to find one of the assistant DA's talking with his supervisor. Her presence would be a big help in the investigation.

'What have you found out?'

Goren looked at the attorney for a moment before turning his attention back to his super. 'Ms. Gorsuch, I think it would be good to have her evaluated. She's showing signs of having acute disassociative disorder.'

'So, if she's guilty you think it could have been during an event?'

'She said she has no memory of what happened. I tend to believe her.' He looked back towards the conference room for a second then back to the two people in front of him. 'She also believes that she is a Cylon.'

* * *

Major Lee Adama rubbed the sweat off his face with a towel. It had been a long few days. Days that he hoped to see the end of sooner rather than later. It was this last battle with the Cylons that made him start thinking about his future. It felt like he had been either fighting or on the run for years. He was tired of it and began seriously thinking about his future in something other than the military.

He was surprised to see how active the gym was so soon after action stations, _general quarters_ he reminded himself. It didn't surprise him to see Admiral Orbach frequenting the facilities. It showed him that the older Terran wanted to make sure that he stayed in shape while on board. This time, though, he heard the punching bag being liberally hit. Out of curiosity he got up off the bench he was seated at and wandered over. He wasn't that surprised to find it was Kara.

Coming from the opposite direction, he grabbed the bag to hold it steady for her.

"Good," she muttered while throwing another punch at the bag. She glanced at him while using a gloved hand to brush her hair out of her face. "I'm envisioning that frakwit Logan."

"Is it working?" Lee asked, somewhat amused. At least she was taking her aggressions out on a punching bag rather than Logan himself.

"For now," she grunted while hitting it again. "If I ever see him again, it'll be too soon!" Kara growled as she continued to hit the bag.

"If you do see him, don't egg him on."

Starbuck flashed a grin, "What? Can't handle it?"

"I don't want to explain to my father why you were in hack the whole trip back," Lee countered. His words had the sobering effect on her he was counting on. "Listen, as soon as all this is over, I'm seriously thinking about leaving the military."

"C'mon, Lee. If you do, how will you keep yourself entertained?" Kara asked in amusement then threw another punch at the punching bag.

"I have my ways," he answered with a somewhat amused grin. Then out of habit he looked up at the clock. "We've got an hour before that refresher training session Orbach wants us to go through."

Kara pulled off the boxing gloves and grabbed a towel to wipe her face and neck. "Did he say where it would be?"

"Yeah. Dirty shirt ward room. He didn't say who would be heading up the session."

"If it's my luck, it'll be Logan," Kara muttered as she followed Lee out of the gym and back towards their quarters.

One hour later they entered the designated ward room, only to find it devoid of everyone except Logan and Willson.

"I knew it," she muttered while glaring at Logan.

Lee spoke up before Kara could do anything else, 'Lieutenant Willson, why are you here?'

Willson looked from the Aurorians to Logan and back again, 'To be referee if need be.' He went over to Logan and whispered, 'Sir, the Admiral is watching this on closed circuit. Don't make a bigger ass out of yourself than you already have.'

'I know,' Logan seemed somewhat apologetic. He took a few steps in Kara's direction before speaking, 'Just because I don't like you doesn't mean that we can't work together.'

The Aurorian seemed to mull it over for a minute, 'Same here.'

Logan backed up and continued in a little bit louder voice, 'You're here because Admiral Orbach saw the need for both of you to have a refresher course in how our computer systems work. Just because the Cylons shove a virus through our data streams doesn't mean that we will be crippled.'

'How come? If the Cylons send us a frakkin' virus, they can easily shut down the system,' Kara countered. She truly didn't remember what they had told here early on.

'Because each system is separate. We can only access certain information from certain terminals and computers.' He leaned over the table Thrace, we learned our lesson going up against the Martoks.'

Kara's eyes narrowed for a moment before speaking, 'No networks?'

'No, we have networks. It's just that only relevant systems are networked together. From what I've heard and read, your computer systems had everything networked together. That's a fuckup waiting to happen, and whoever designed the system had to have known how vulnerable it was.'

Lee sighed. 'At the time it was touted as a breakthrough in computer design.'

'Designed to be easily broken into. Anyone with any know-how in computers can easily hack into a single networked system.'

TBC…..


	12. Chapter 12

**Reversus Patria**

Part: 12  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Twelve**_

Gaeta let his head fall back against the metal headrest. He had been studying the new system for two long days. There was nothing, and all it garnered for him was a headache. When the doctors had found out what he was doing they kept a very close watch him while grumbling. They were worried because of the headache he had induced. That was not good, especially since he was still recovering from the injuries he garnered from going up against a Cylon. Those memories were blacked out, and he didn't want to relive them if at all possible.

Now he had to have the information sent back to Helo with recommendations that the techs take a look at it. Those people might find something he overlooked. Being within the Terran system as long as he had been he found it was getting harder to see if there were any issues with the programming.

'Major, I don't want you pushing yourself,' one of the doctors had told him earlier in the day. He did it though, because he had to. They needed the information sooner rather than later.

Just as he was going to look at the designs one more time, the door opened up and several techs filed in. 'You've been sprung from the inpatient section of the hospital,' one of the techs explained as the others started bustling around the bed.

'Are you sure?' he asked as they disconnected the computers. It bothered him that he hadn't walked since before the attack. And now they were releasing him? 'Doesn't it bother you that I haven't walked for. . .'

'Don't worry, Major,' one of the techs said. 'We're going to let the rehab people deal with you walking, or lack thereof.' When they stopped he looked to the door and another tech was pushing a wheelchair into the room.

Once on his feet, Gaeta found he had a hard time keeping his balance. At least he was only in that position for a short time. Not being able to balance made him even more worried than he had already been. Minutes later, he was out in the corridors of the hospital ship. It surprised him at just how spacious it seemed. The way the Terrans did things seemed very odd in his estimation, but he didn't complain. He was alive, and that was good.

The tech that was behind the wheelchair eventually stopped in a seemingly empty corridor. There were doors on either side set a fair distance apart from one another. 'You'll be staying here until we reach the staging area. Then you'll be transferred onto another ship that will take you the rest of the way to your destination.'

Gaeta nodded somewhat distractedly. He had no idea where in the ship he was, so he had no way of telling Angela where he was. 'I have no idea where I am,' he muttered half-heartedly.

'Don't worry, you'll be fine,' the tech admonished him as he pulled the door open. The room before him was larger than he had expected. Actually, he'd had no idea what to expect. What he found was a common room that was sparsely decorated. 'Is this it?' he turned his head slowly to look at the tech.

'No, but I'll let you look around, sir,' the tech answered then stepped away and back out into the corridor.

'Great,' Felix muttered. He didn't even know how to operate the wheelchair, and now he felt stranded.

"Felix, don't worry, you'll be fine," Angela's voice came from one of the other rooms. She had no idea just how relieved he was to hear her voice.

"Now, I am," he muttered. He gave her a dubious look when she appeared from one of the doors. She was wearing what looked to be her old workout pants and a tee-shirt and couldn't help but notice her figure seemed much fuller than what he remembered.

"Enjoy them while you can, in seven months they'll be off limits," she answered with an amused grin on her face. She knew exactly what he was looking at and her grin grew larger at his reaction. For a moment Gaeta almost looked like a child who's favorite toy had been taken away. Before he could do or say or do anything else, she pulled him to his feet and helped him over to the small couch.

"What else is here?" he asked while slowly looking around.

"They set up the cabins to be completely private. They never know if they're going to be transporting disabled soldiers or not so the head is the most obvious room that's been altered." She settled down on the couch beside him and continued, "You have to eat in the mess."

"Isn't that normal?" He watched as she reached over to the side table and retrieved a notebook.

Angela rolled her eyes at his comment. 'Whatever,' she muttered as she opened the notebook. When he didn't answer she glanced over then back down to her notebook. Gaeta was now watching what she was doing. 'I'm finishing my degree,' she commented as she reached for the remote.

He had seen some of the movies that Angela had been watching and taking notes on, but not all of them. They were quite interesting in his estimation, and showed him a little bit about Terran military tactics. "Which one are you watching now?"

'_Sergeant York_,' she commented while looking at her notebook. 'It's a true story and I want to see how the media handled the attitude of forgiveness the main character showed during The Great War AKA World War I.' Before she could start the video both of them heard the sound of a knock from out in the corridor.

'Are you expecting someone?' Glennan asked as she got up.

Gaeta shook his head. "Not that I know of."

Angela opened the door and wasn't that surprised to find it was one of the physicians. 'Are you here for Major Gaeta?' she asked while slipping out into the corridor.

'Yes, Captain.' He glanced towards the open door then back to the petite officer.

Angela nodded and stepped back into the cabin. 'It's for you,' she said as he looked over his shoulder and towards the door.

'Major, I'm sorry about the techs. They were eager to get you out of the inpatient section before I had a chance to talk to you about your rehab.' The unnamed doctor came around the couch to take a look at how Gaeta was doing.

'Is it typical?' he asked. It did seem like he had been rushed out of the area.

'No, and I wanted to check up on you because of what happened earlier today. The techs have been sufficiently disciplined.' He pulled out a small pen light. 'Have you had any dizzy spells?' he asked as he did a short examination.

'No, but it does bother me that I wasn't able to keep my balance while standing.' The whole situation bothered him. It was almost like there was a breakdown in communications between the different departments.

'Major, don't worry. My goal is to have you walking freely by the time we reach the staging area.' The doctor seemed confident, but Felix didn't have that same confidence. He did go along with it for the time being. 'Just don't push yourself Major. Your shoulder and internal organs have healed nicely, we just have to make sure the bruising your brain took will also heal.'

'When is my. . .rehab?' he asked, making sure he got the word right, 'session?'

'After you finish with breakfast. Just let the orderlies that are in the mess know about it.'

Even though Gaeta was nodding and trying to take mental notes, he found it hard to remember everything.

He was not looking forward to rehab.

oOo

Felix groaned as he slowly lay down on the bed. He knew he was not going to look forward to rehab, and he was right. It felt like four long hours of pure hell. His muscles still trembled from the exertion while his head hurt from the mental stimulation the doctors and techs gave him.

He told the doctors that he was worried that all the mental stimulation was going to slow down his brain recovering from the concussion.

They answered and told him that everything was going to be all right.

It still bothered him in that he felt worse than before, and that it seemed that the nausea was trying to come back. It wasn't going to work, he bemoaned. Those four hours in rehab proved it to him. Even the other soldiers and officers that were in rehab seemed to be doing much better than he was. They were walking through the parallel bars with success while he could barely stand up. 'You have to start somewhere,' one of the rehab techs stated. 'And the best thing for you is to learn how to balance once again.'

After four hours it seemed like he had gotten nowhere near standing on his own.

The sound of the shower brought him back to the present. He turned to look towards the head and saw the nurse, Henderson, he remembered, come out of the smaller room. 'Major, it's time for your shower,' he said easily, as if it were nothing, and came over to the bed and helped him get ready. Gaeta felt humiliated at having to be helped with even the simplest of things.

'Sir, I know you think you'll never get better, but you will. Today was only your first day at rehab. Give it time,' Henderson told him as he pulled him to his feet. He quickly realized that that wasn't going to work. Gazing across the room he found the wheelchair and brought it back over.

'Will that fit in there?' Felix asked while looking towards the head. He could see steam wafting out of the smaller room.

'You let me worry about that. That's what I'm here for,' Henderson scolded him then wheeled him into the smaller room.

The chair within the shower stall made things easier to bear since Felix didn't have to look around. He only hoped that it ended sooner rather than later. When it was finally over with, Henderson moved him quickly over to the bed. This time, instead of submitting entirely, he wanted to be able to dress himself. The nurse seemed to pick up on what he wanted even though he never said a word.

Eventually Gaeta was able to get partially dressed, but the whole thing was exhausting.

'Sir, I'll be back in a few hours to check on how you're doing.' Henderson nodded, then dimmed the lights and left the cabin.

Felix had no idea how long it had been when the door opened once again. He felt a sharp stabbing pain shoot through his brain quickly followed by nausea. 'Please,' he muttered as he tried to roll over onto his stomach.

The light was extinguished immediately, but it didn't help. "Are you okay?" He heard Angela's voice through the growing haze of pain.

'Drink this,' she said as she helped him sit up. The liquid had an acidic taste to it, but it was drinkable. Gaeta didn't even bother to ask what it was, he only hoped that it was would stay down. Whatever it was, it helped him relax and was enough for him to go to sleep.

TBC……


	13. Chapter 13

**Reversus Patria**

Part: 13  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh

Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

Jeremiah looked at the information the scouting group brought back. After they neutralized the centurion threat, they were able to add a module onto the computer system that added to the control the Terrans already had, so the ship could be controlled completely by remote control. He knew snatching the basestar was a major boon. After a thorough investigation of the systems, the techs told him that the cylon-based technology relied heavily on networks. And in doing so, they unwittingly set themselves up for a fall as bad as the former Colonials.

They never expected to go up against a group that knew how to deal with networks. They had a lot to learn. In his estimation, they seemed very naïve. And naïve cultures didn't fare that well out in space.

'Did they network everything together?' he muttered as he looked over more information. It almost weirded him out about the sight of that _thing_ in a mucus type tank. The wiring in and around the tank seemed to indicate that it drew power from the engines and also sent electrical impulses to the computers.

'It's a damn computer,' he muttered at his sudden revelation. The Cylons were using biocircuity to control the systems on the ship. _An organic brain_, he mused. They used organic circuitry, but not to the extent that the Cylons did.

'_Admiral,'_ Willson's voice came across the speakers.

'Yes?' he asked as he continued skimming over the mound of information.

'_The _Hephaestus _along with the _Maricopa _and_ Iwo Jima _have arrived.'_

'Good. Send the _Hephaestus_ a list of the ships that are needing repairs.'

'_Yes, sir. And the captain of the _Iwo _wants to talk to you and Captain Windsor.'_

This was unexpected. 'All right. I'll be down to meet both of them in the hanger. Have Windsor come over ASAP before Morgan.' He disconnected the line and sighed. He had no idea what this was about and it bothered him.

A short time later he was down in the hanger and waiting for Windsor to get off the shuttle and then wait for Morgan from the _Iwo_ to arrive.

Once Windsor was on board they waited for Morgan's arrival. His arrival wasn't unusual, but it was the civilian that came out with him. 'Sir,' the civilian started while looking at the fleet XO, 'There is something I need to tell you in private, but not here.'

Windsor nodded then looked towards Orbach.

'My office is fine,' Jeremiah answered the unspoken question.

'Yes, sir.' Windsor left with the civilian in tow.

'Do you know what's going on?' Jeremiah finally asked Morgan as they were heading towards his office. They were moving slower so Windsor and whoever the civilian was could have the privacy needed.

Morgan's lips tightened. 'I won't talk about it here, sir.'

Orbach looked sharply towards the Welsh captain. It was something important if an unnamed civilian was escorted all the way to the front lines of the war with the Cylons. As they turned the corner the door leading into his office opened and a grim faced Windsor came out. 'Admiral, I have to go,' he said while handing over a small card.

The American glanced over the short message and shook his head. 'You're free to go, Captain.'

'I'm here to take his place, sir,' Morgan interrupted.

'Good,' Orbach muttered as they turned to go back to the hanger deck. By the time they had reached it, a majority of the crew of the _Invincible_ knew what was going on. 'Good luck,' he said as they reached the shuttle.

'Thank you, sir,' Windsor saluted and turned to get back into the waiting shuttle.

* * *

Mair set down the book she had been trying to read. Her thoughts were constantly scattering about, so much so that she couldn't concentrate on the words. First, she had been able to see her daughter for the first time, and then Jackie came back with information she did not want to think about. She sighed as she picked up the book, once again hoping to keep her mind occupied. Mair hated doing nothing. Boredom and letting her mind roam were the worst things in her estimation. At least it wasn't a story that she could easily read in an afternoon. This one was almost 900 pages long.

A knock on the side of the door brought her out of the story and back into reality. 'Yes?'

Jackie stepped inside followed by a woman wearing scrubs that she didn't recognize. 'I'd like for you to meet Gloria. Until you can get around she'll be helping you.'

Mair sighed while setting the book down. 'I'm all right. I don't need the help.'

'Señora,' the darker skinned woman came from around Jackie. 'It is only for a short time.' When it looked like Mair had acquiesced for the moment she continued, 'Señora, I am Gloria Saenz. You will be up and around before you know it.'

'Mair, they won't let you leave the hospital unless you have. . .' Jackie inclined her head towards Gloria.

'All right,' Mair finally capitulated.

'Good, Señora. I will be here when it's time to leave,' Gloria said with a smile then turned and moved back into the hospital corridor.

Seeing Mair's expression Jackie sat down on the side of the bed. 'I know you feel helpless, but it's only for a short time.'

'I just want to be alone,' Mair finally whispered.

Jackie stayed quiet, there wasn't anything she could say, she thought, to help her sister. She knew Mair was going through a very difficult time in her life, going from being completely independent to being dependent on someone else. And seeing Gloria for the first time made her realize for the first time that it was real.

'Everything will work out,' Jackie told her softly. It was the only thing she could say. 'I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but it will get better.'

Before Mair could say anything else, one of the doctor's stepped into the room. He gave Jackie a look stating that she wasn't needed at the moment then turned and watched as a cart was being pushed into the room. It had various types of scanning equipment on the different racks.

'I'll be back in a little bit,' Jackie said to her sister while looking at the equipment on the cart. She glanced back and then headed out of the room.

'What's all that for?' Mair asked as she put the book on the side table. The feel of the pages instead of using a data reader was comforting in an odd way.

'I'm going to check on how well your inner ear has been healing,' he answered while looking at her chart. When he seemed satisfied, he went over to the cart and picked up what looked like a helmet. 'Don't worry, it's not going to hurt,' he said gently as he brought it over.

'I still have dizzy spells,' Mair said softly as it was being strapped on.

'Which is perfectly normal.'

'Doctor?' Mair asked without looking at him.

'Yes?' He looked down and realized what she was asking. 'Sorry about that. I'm Dr. Walters,' he finally introduced himself. 'This is my shift.'

'Will it be permanent?'

Walters stopped for a moment before continuing with the initial diagnostics. 'That depends on how well the bones are healing.' He hesitated, 'There, that should do it,' he muttered. 'Now you should feel something, but not much.'

The scans echoed in her ears making a whine that quickly triggered what she thought was another headache. 'Please,' she muttered while closing her eyes tight.

Seconds later it was gone, but the remnants of the headache remained, which also triggered her nausea. Without missing a beat the doctor brought the pan over to her.

'I'm sorry,' Mair whispered when she was finished. She wiped the tears that were threatening to fall away and closed her eyes.

'Don't worry, Captain. It'll be all right,' Dr. Walters said softly.

When he left Jackie came back inside, but this time Goren followed her into the private room. 'Are you all right?' she asked as she quickly moved over to the bed.

'No,' Mair answered miserably.

'If it's any consolation Dr. Walters thinks you're healing nicely.'

Mair mumbled, 'It doesn't feel like it.'

'I'll leave,' Goren indicated the door.

Mair seemed to notice him for the first time. 'No, it's all right,' she said while composing herself.

The agent moved towards Jackie and said in a low voice, 'I need to talk to Mair privately.'

'I understand.' She touched his arm while passing him on her way out the door. As soon as they were alone Goren moved over to the chair and gave her a depreciating smile. 'I saw your daughter. She is beautiful,' he said, trying to make what he was about to try easier on her.

'Thank you, I think.' Mair bent her knees and sat up slightly higher than she had been while reading. 'But you're not here for that.'

'No. I want to know if you remember anything else.' The agent pulled out his pocket notebook and stylus.

'About what happened?' Mair shook her head. 'No.'

'There were no cameras within the residence,' Goren noted absently.

'Because no one expected this to happen.' He looked up just in time to see Mair pull slightly at her ear.

'Don't. . .'

'What?' Mair looked up questioningly.

'You could hurt your ear doing that,' Goren clarified. He nodded when she lowered her hand and grasped the covers. When he realized she was trying to remember he continued, 'Don't force it. Just relax and start with the last thing you remember.'

'I, I had just returned from working with Captain Gardner. . .I think I had something to eat? I can't remember for sure.' She opened her eyes and watched Goren taking notes for a moment.

'Go on,' he encouraged.

'I think there was a knock, or something and someone came in.'

'Can you tell me what this person looked like?'

'D-dark? That's all I can remember,' she shook her head.

'Dark?'

'Yes, someone that was dark.' Her cryptic sounding words could mean anything, but Goren knew it's all he could really work with.

Realizing there wasn't much more he could do, Goren turned off his notebook and slid it into the inside pocket of his jacket. 'I'm sorry,' she said, bring back his attention. 'Everything else. . .' she sighed.

Goren nodded in sympathy. 'Would you be able to pick out this person out in a lineup?'

'I'm not sure. Maybe?'

'You know it can be done with you here, or at your home.'

'I don't know.'

Her answers made him think that she might not even be able to testify if it went to trial. 'I want to thank you for your help,' Goren assured her before withdrawing from the room. She didn't even seem to notice his absence, or even register the arrival of someone else that wasn't part of the hospital staff.

'Captain O'Neill?'

The voice made her jump in surprise. 'Sir?' She had been taken completely by surprise. 'I'm sorry, sir,' she looked down at the hospital gown and then back to the officer. Mair cringed when she realized that he was just a lieutenant. 'Sorry, Lieutenant,' she mumbled.

'Ma'am, have you made your decision yet?' When she shook her head he continued, 'You can't keep putting it off. Either you decide, or the Admiralty will for you.'

'I know.' Mair brought her eyes to look at who she had been addressing. She didn't recognize him.

He placed a data stick on the small table before continuing, 'Ma'am, Admiral Riggins needs your answer before you are released from the hospital. If you need any help, all you have to do is contact his office and he'll have someone sent over.' He braced himself then quickly left the room.

'Just what I need,' Mair mumbled as she slowly reached for the small stick. She knew she had to at least look at the forms. The one thing she knew she had going for her is that she had been in the RN for over twenty years. So she could, in essence, retire. But there could be a problem with that. She knew she needed more healthcare than traditional retirement offered if those pesky short dizzy spells continued.

Seeing the option of a medical retirement as a possibility surprised her. It was something she never thought of before. If she took that route, she would be able to continue full treatment for her medical issues until they were solved.

'What are you looking at?' Jackie's voice cam from just inside the room.

Mair glanced up to look at her sister then back down to the small screen. 'It seems like I haven't had any quality time to myself today,' she muttered. 'What amounts to be where my future will be in the military,' Mair answered a little louder.

'Which is?'

'Either I decide, or the Admiralty will decide for me,' Mair answered disgustedly. She looked up only to catch Jackie leaving the room. 'I'm sorry,' she mumbled. _I just want to be alone._ O'Neill brought her attention back to her hand computer and quickly realized she couldn't keep her attention on what she was doing, or reading.

'Oh great.' She let her head fall back against the pillow.

'Did that make you feel better?' Jackie leaned up against the door frame.

'I'm sorry,' was all Mair could think to say.

'How about you thinking about something other to say than that. Say. . .getting a much better house rather than that rat's nest Jerry calls his home.'

'It's not a 'rat's nest'.' Mair scrunched her face up in disgust.

Jackie raised an eyebrow. 'And just who do you think you're dealing with?' She moved back into the room and sat down. 'Listen, once Deidre is released, you will need the room. What you have right now will not cut it.'

'I know, and I have most everything done.'

'Oh?' Jackie blinked in surprise. 'I'd like to look it over.'

Mair seemed to mull the offer over. 'You know, I am aware enough to make my own decisions.'

'But you're not an interior decorator,' the older sister countered.

Mair rolled her eyes. 'Fine. If that's what you want, it's on the desk in a folder.'

A slow smile crossed Jackie's face as she got up. 'I'll be back in a little bit,' she stated as she left the room.

Alone again, Mair sighed and closed her eyes. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. She might as well start back up with the forms that that lieutenant had left for her. They really had to be completed and set back to the appropriate people.

TBC……


	14. Chapter 14

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 14  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh

Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.  
Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

Gaeta slowly crawled his way back up to the world of the living. He still felt like crap, but at least that blinding headache was gone. The muscles that still weren't working quite right felt heavy to him for some odd reason. He let out a groan as he slowly sat up. "Great," he muttered at the sight of the wheelchair several feet away from the side of the bed.

_Maybe I could just lay down again_, he considered. But he couldn't and he knew that. He needed to get to the head. A quick glance around the room made him realize that there was nothing he could use to pull the chair closer. Now he would have to get to the chair himself, and hopefully not collapse onto the deck in the process.

"Here goes," he said softly as he swung his legs off the bed and let his feet touch the floor. The metal plates were cold, but he ignored that. He could get some socks later. Right now he really needed to reach the chair.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself off the bed. For a moment he stood there perfectly balanced, but quickly started leaning to the side. "Frak," he muttered as he reached for the chair. He wasn't quick enough and landed on the deck with a thump.

Before he could even consider what he should do he saw someone out of the corner of his eye come through the door and into the bedroom. It was Henderson. Making quick work of the situation, the Terran quickly got Gaeta into the chair and began to push him towards the head. 'I want to do this by myself,' Gaeta said just loud enough for the nurse's aide to hear.

Henderson understood exactly what the Aurorian was requesting. Suddenly loosing independence - even temporarily - is a bitter pill to swallow for anyone. And doing anything, however minor, was considered a triumph.

A short time later Gaeta was in the common room and looking over the information he had stored in the PDA about the new computer setup for the battlestars. He had yet to have the information sent back to Helo. That was something he wanted to remedy sooner rather than later. And with the information being for his eyes only, he didn't want to leak the information out by accident. 'How long will you be here?' he asked as he shut the small computer down.

'Only when Captain Glennan isn't here, or you're in rehab,' Henderson answered with a ghost of a grin. 'And it's only to make sure you don't hurt yourself by accident.'

'How long?' Gaeta asked once again.

'You're talking about today, or this situation in general?'

'Today.' Felix rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Before Henderson could say anything, the door opened and Angela stepped in. 'I can take it from here,' she told the aide while putting down several folders on the closest flat surface.

The aide nodded and quickly left the cabin leaving the two alone. She scowled a moment before letting it drop. 'No more headache?'

"No." Felix shook his head. "How long have I been asleep?"

Angela glanced at her watch, the same watch he had given her early on in their relationship. "Over a day." She sat down and sighed. "And the rehab people weren't that happy with me when you missed your session with them."

Her words made him look sharply at the clock. _Just great,_ he closed his eyes and berated himself for oversleeping to such an extent. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Because you needed the sleep. I know all about migraines. Mum gets them every month and is wiped out for several days from the combination of the medication and the long sleep it puts her in."

Silence dominated the room for a few minutes. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't worry, it's not your fault," Angela shrugged. She was quiet again, but this time she was looking at the PDA he was holding. "Have you sent back those files you received?"

"No. I don't know how to do that." Felix looked somewhat disappointed.

His comments made Angela realize that he didn't know fully how to operate the computers. "I'll do it," she answered while reaching for the small computer. "It's not that difficult either," she explained. She powered the computer up and selected the file in question put the destination in the correct field then hit send.

"So, it's going right now?" It seemed way too easy in his estimation.

"Not yet. It's been added to the queue so that when the next dump happens, it'll go back within the day."

The more and more Gaeta saw and worked with Terra's technology, the more and more he was impressed with it. Many things were much simpler to operate, and there were also a few things that he would never have thought of.

She was about to say something else when the comm. unit sounded. Glennan got up and retrieved the call. After a short conversation she went back over to the couch and sat down. 'Rehab isn't letting you off the hook that easily. They're coming by to pick you up.'

"I don't like rehab," Felix muttered.

"I know you don't. It wasn't easy for me either," she agreed with him. "But the hardest part is starting it."

"I think you told me that before," Felix answered. He paused before continuing, "When will they arrive?"

His question was answered by a knock at the cabin door. "Now," Glennan answered while getting up once again.

Gaeta sighed as they came into the common room. 'Ready, Major?' one of the techs asked.

'Do I have a choice,' Gaeta grumbled as he was helped into the wheelchair.

'Not unless you want to walk again. Don't worry, it gets easier over time.'

He was still grumbling as they left the cabin and out into the corridors.

* * *

Laura stood looking out the windows of her office. The brilliant colors of autumn were just beginning to show on the trees. Some of the Picts had told her that the colors were even more vibrant in the more northern areas of the continent. With what she saw right now in a half-temperate half-tropical region she wasn't that surprised at their comments. The image beyond the windows, though, wasn't what was on her mind. Last night she had talked to Bill about what to do with Dee. Ultimately it was her decision, but it didn't make it any easier.

"_Where is she?" she finally asked._

_Bill's silence bothered her. Laura turned to look at him, trying to gage his thoughts. His face was unreadable, which bothered her even more. "Bill?"_

_Adama looked down to his hands before finally answering, "With the Picts."_

_Laura's eyes narrowed at his admission. "Oh really?"_

_He looked her straight in the face before answering. "I want to make sure it's discovered who injured Captain O'Neill. As of right now, it's not been revealed either way." He could tell Laura knew what he was talking about. If they had still been in space, Dee would have already been put in the brig. It didn't matter if she were pregnant or not._

_Laura seemed to capitulate to his view point. "And what if she's guilty?"_

"_We let the courts decide on that."_

"_I hate doing this, Bill," she sighed as she rubbed her arms. "Even if she isn't one, I can't take the chance."_

The silence seemed to weigh heavily in her office. She was due to meet with Agent Goren about the whole issue with Captain O'Neill and Dee. The air between her and Bill was still strained. She didn't like being at odds with him, she cared for him too much. But they needed to show a united front to let the population know that they knew what they were doing.

The silence in the room seemed to thicken. It was broken by Billy coming into the office followed by the person they had been waiting for. "Ma'am, Admiral, Agent Goren is here." He went to leave but Laura stopped him. "Thank you, Billy."

Even though Billy was tired he still answered smartly before excusing himself, "Yes, ma'am."

"Madam President," Goren nodded. "You were wanting to discuss how the case is developing," he started.

"Yes, Agent Goren," Laura nodded while indicating a small sitting area. There were several chairs separated by a low coffee table. Above one of the chairs and hung on the wall was the picture that was taking on Aerlon during the attacks and on the frame were the words _Never Forget. _Robert sat down and pulled out his notebook and stylus and opened his files on the case.

"I would like to know how the investigation is progressing," she stated firmly.

"As well as to be expected at the current time," he answered noncommittally. "Right now Dualla is undergoing psychiatric evaluation. If she is deemed competent to stand trial, she will be afforded an attorney to represent her."

"Why so?" she answered darkly. If she was a Cylon then. . .

Goren seemed to know what she was considering, "Madam President. Everyone has rights on this planet. She has just as much right as the next person, and she is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt."

"Agent, there are many in Aurora who would like nothing better than to take her up to one of the ships and have her shoved out the airlock."

"Which is why I have asked for the trial, if it comes down to that, to be held in Avalon. Your people can't constantly dwell on the past, they need to move forward."

Laura seemed to finally capitulate at his reasoning. It was similar to what Bill had told her last night. "What if she's deemed unable to stand trial?" This reminded her of what happened to Baltar. He was now planetside, and being treated in a psychiatric facility. His break with reality was so great that even the people that were caring for him didn't think he would ever recover.

"She will be placed in a psychiatric facility. Which facility she could go to depends on how dangerous she is, or becomes."

"I see," Roslin answered slowly. "How long will the evaluation take?"

"The courts will have the report tomorrow." Goren closed the notebook and put it in one of his jacket pockets. "I can have you notified of the outcome."

"Yes, please, Agent," she responded as she stood up. "I do want to thank you for coming out here."

"Ma'am," Goren answered while bowing his head slightly. As he was leaving she called out to Billy for him to stay.

"Billy, there's something I need to tell you," she said as she closed the door to her office.

"Yes, ma'am?" he asked somewhat confused. His tiredness seemed to compound the confusion.

"You do know what's going on with Dee, right?"

Worry flashed in his eyes before it disappeared. It was at that moment she realized he had been hiding it. Laura swallowed a bit of her pride and said, "You have every right to be worried."

He closed his eyes. "I, I've been hearing things."

"I don't like doing this, but I can't have you on my staff anymore because of Dee," she told him with regret. "You've been with me since the Holocaust and have been a tremendous help." She put her hand on his shoulder, "But I'm very sorry, Billy. I held out as long as I could, but it's getting difficult to explain to the Avalon press why you're still here with Dee going possibly on trial."

His shoulders slumped in defeat. "I understand, ma'am." His words sounded wooden.

Laura never felt so alone as she watched Billy leave her office for the last time.

TBC………..


	15. Chapter 15

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 15  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Fifteen**_

At least one day had passed since Captain Windsor left the fleet and went back to fully controlled Terran space. Orbach was sorry to see him leave and would miss him, but he knew Stephen had to leave. That was the least of his worries, if you could say they were worries. The foundry ship was sending out its people to the ships that had been severely damaged in the previous engagement. Most, if not all, were repairable. What they really needed now was a working base of operations. And the planet they were in the vicinity of seemed perfect for that. The _Hephaestus_ was already sending ships down to retrieve much needed raw materials so the ships could be fully repaired since there were no asteroids near enough to be able to use.

The _Iwo Jima_ had also brought much needed food supplies. The _Yorktown_ had an area where they could actually grow its own food, but they were only able to keep up with the demand on their own ship. The officers and noncoms that were growing the food wanted to head down to the planet to see if they could take advantage of the soil to grow more food for the fleet to supplement their dwindling food stores.

Jeremiah knew enough of paganism to understand how they the Aurorians felt about the planet being cursed, but it had to be done. They needed a base, and there were no planets in the area that could sustain any type of life forms. He looked over the information about the planet before telling Willson that he wanted to talk to the three Aurorians on board. While waiting for the officers to arrive he contacted the agro officers on the _Yorktown_. He wanted them to go down to check to see if there was anything that could be eaten that grew naturally on the planet. The planet looked green and fertile, but he didn't want to take the chance of possibly poisoning the soldiers under his command.

'_Sir, the officers you requested to see are here,'_ Willson's voice came from the speakers.

'Good, send them in.'

The three officers that came into his office seemed very uneasy, and he knew it stemmed from the planet below them. It surprised him somewhat to see Captain Thrace carrying a battered book with her.

'Have a seat,' Orbach started while leaning back in his chair. When they were settled he began, 'I want to know about this planet and why you're uneasy being this close to it. Why is it cursed?'

'Permission to speak freely?' Kara said slowly.

'With this? Yes, Captain.'

'Zeus wanted us to not come back, and it is written that if we did, we would pay in blood,' Kara said slowly.

'Okay. . .' Orbach pondered her words for a moment before answering, 'So, what did you do to make him that angry?'

The Aurorians looked at each other for a moment before turning their attention back to Jeremiah. They weren't expecting _that_ question. Lee turned to look at Kara and just happened to catch Kelly doing the same thing. Even with her issues, she still knew more about the Scrolls than anyone else.

'Captain, it seems you're the spokesperson,' Jeremiah commented at how the two officers on either side of her had reacted.

'I never learned why,' Lee finally answered.

'Those who do not learn history are forever condemned to repeat it,' Orbach said.

'How could we remember it? We were thrown into a dark age after the initial exodus,' Kara said darkly.

_Interesting_.

'The Thirteenth tribe went one direction, to Earth; and the rest settled what would become the Twelve Colonies.'

Jeremiah sighed. It was like pulling teeth. 'That maybe so, but you still haven't stated why they all left in the first place. I think you do know, to an extent, what happened.'

Kara sighed. 'There was a war.'

'Now we're getting somewhere,' Orbach muttered. 'Political or religious? Because if it was a religious war, then it was very nasty.' He watched their reactions very closely. They seemed at a complete loss for words.

'How do you expect me to remember that at a moment's notice, sir?' Kara grumbled.

'Depending on how bad the war was gives you a clue as to whether or not it was religious or politically motivated.' After a moment he continued, 'I'm inclined to think it was a nasty religious civil war. We've had several of those over the years, but we were lucky in that we didn't have today's weapons.' Orbach's words seemed to ease the Aurorians somewhat, but not completely.

Seeing there was nothing else he could really do at the moment, the Terran admiral dismissed the officers. When he was alone again he rubbed his face. 'So, religious conflict,' he muttered as he went back to his computer. He only wished that their scrolls were digitally copied onto the system, that way he could do the research himself and not have to feel like he was dragging every word out of the Aurorians. It was also very clear to him that they did not want to be even in the planet's vicinity. That could be the main reason he was having difficulty.

But he still needed a front base of operations. All the planets they had come across hadn't been fit for any type of habitation.

'_Sir, the agro officers have submitted their reports.'_

_What?_ There wasn't even enough time for the group to head planetside, and now they were contacting him? Everything about it bothered him greatly. 'And their report?' he asked cautiously.

'_In essence, the planet vegetation is poisonous, and there aren't any life forms on the planet.'_

'Damn,' he muttered. That meant even a biodome was out of the question. If he set up a base the food stores would have to come from agroships that were stationed in orbit. Which also meant that more than the small contingency he was considering was out of the question. Now he had to set up a full base, and that took time that he didn't have.

* * *

"How many ships have we lost this time?" Doral asked as he left the resurrection chamber. As soon as he was dressed he headed back into the chamber where the Hybrid resided. It was getting tiring, and bothersome at the same time. Even though they had superior firepower, nothing seemed to stop the Terrans. The humans just pushed back harder.

"Two more," a Six answered slowly.

"Two?"

Six seemed stricken when she answered, "Yes, the second one that came back was too heavily damaged, and we had to cut them off to keep the virus from spreading to the other Cylons."

Doral turned and stormed out of the room. He found the closest Cavil and pulled him around. "We lost two more basestars. We can't keep this up."

"Yes we will," the older looking model answered arrogantly.

"Until there's only one ship left? They're at that planet the human Colonials call Kobol. I wouldn't be surprised if they set up a base there."

"How can they? It's poisonous to them."

"I wouldn't put it past them putting an agricultural ship in orbit," Doral grumbled as he pulled back. His words seemed to have no effect on the Cylon.

"I'm going to do something about this before we loose any more ships."

"And who will follow you?" Cavil smarted off.

"You might be surprised at that answer." The Doral model turned and went back to where he first met up with Six.

"I'm going to do something about this," he said softly when he reached her side. "I want this to end."

She looked at him for a moment, clearly debating on whether or not to go with him. "You do have a plan for this?" she finally asked.

For a moment he seemed uncertain before it disappeared under a mask of calm. "Don't worry, everything will work out."

* * *

The whistle sounding general quarters blared through the ships in the Terran fleet. _It was only a matter of time_, Jeremiah thought as he made it to the _Invincible's_ command bridge in short order. What he found was not what he was expecting. He had no idea what he had been expecting, maybe a screen full of basestars spitting raiders out to attack the fleet.

This? It was a Cylon basestar, but heavily damaged. They were waiting for any sound to come from the ship, but there was nothing on any of the subspace frequencies.

'Is this a trick?' Sergio asked quietly.

Orbach shook his head. 'I'm not sure at the moment.' He turned to look at the emc officer, 'See if they're sending anything.'

The officer looked intently at his station and started working to clear up any possible messages. After a moment he looked up. 'Yes, sir. It's faint, though.'

'Get one of those Aurorians up here,' Sergio ordered. 'And I don't care who, just as long as it's one of them.'

The order went out quickly and within minutes Major Adama appeared. He was in his flight suit and had been ready to go out once again.

'Sir?' Lee asked as he stepped further into the bridge. His jaw dropped open at the sight of the crippled basestar.

'We need a translator,' Orbach stated.

'Why?' Lee asked, clearly confused. They had the technology to do perfect translations, but they were requesting his help.

'Because there are times where having a person translating is better than a computer.'

Lee nodded absently as he was directed over to the ecm station. The signal was faint, but he could just pick out what was being broadcast.

After a few moments he shook his head and turned back to the Terran Admiral. 'Sir, it seems that there's been a big enough disagreement between the different Cylon models that it started a civil war.'

'What are they wanting, Major?' Orbach asked.

Lee turned back to the console, 'Can they hear me?'

'Yes, sir.'

"This is the Terran ship _Invincible_. What are your plans?"

"_Protection. We can give you coordinates of the Cylon homeworld, and where the Hub is located." _

TBC…….


	16. Chapter 16

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 16  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Sixteen**_

Goren stepped into the bullpen, face inscrutable. He had just picked up information from one of his governmental contacts. It was common knowledge that he used his contacts abundantly. That was one of the reasons why he had been able to solve as many cases as he had. He was one of the best agents the CID on their payroll. Many times the Avalon police department had made offers for him to join the civilian force. Most of the time he paid it no mind. The work he had here was more than stimulating, and he enjoyed the mental dexterity it took to solve some of the cases.

The O'Neill case was no different. He actually considered it one of his more challenging cases. There was a suspect in custody, but it looked like there was not enough evidence, whether it be hard or circumstantial, to bring the case to trial. Chances were the charges were going to be dropped because of what little they had that was in state custody.

Even with that looming over him, he had received some interesting information from his contact about the possibility of people being held against their will at the compound. Deep inside, he had a feeling that it was connected with the O'Neill case, but there wasn't any information stating either way. Only his gut feeling was telling him otherwise.

'Looks like you found something interesting.'

Robert looked up to his partner, Mark Bishop, and let out a short humph.

'Now I know you found something.' Bishop leaned over the desks to see what Robert was going through. 'Oh, the O'Neill case.' He waved in Goren's direction noncommittally. 'You can have that one.'

Robert couldn't help but smile at Mark's comments. He was just about to start working through the new information when movement out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention. He looked up only to see Dr. Betancourt, the principle psychologist the prosecution used for certain cases, enter his supervisor's office. He glanced over at the clock and realized that the results of Dualla's evaluation had been finished. The agent really did feel sorry for her. He sighed while pushing what was going on to the back of his mind and looked over the information he had received from his government contact. There was something going on over at the compound, and both the top government officials and the Aurorian leaders seemed to be hiding something. There seemed to be several people that were being held against their will.

Just as he was jotting down his ideas he heard his name being called. 'Goren, I need you in my office. And bring the O'Neill file with you.'

_That's odd_, he thought as he gathered up all his materials. 'Is there any reason why?' he asked as he closed the door. Goren was surprised to find someone else in the office along with his super and Dr. Betancourt.

The court appointed psychologist gave him a look then left the office. The whole situation was strange, and that bothered him. His eyes moved over to his super's desk and her name plate, _Ann Gorsuch_.

Without so much as a word, she reached over and took the file from him and gave it to the stranger.

'What. . .what's going on?' Robert asked while trying to retrieve the file.

'Agent, you've been pulled off the case. It's also been closed.' She paused a moment before continuing, 'Is everything in there?'

'Yes,' he answered softly.

At Goren's answer, Ann nodded towards the stranger. He smiled and left with the folder. When they were alone she said kindly, 'I'm sorry about that. My orders came from M6.' She sat down and rearranged the paperwork on her desk.

'What am I going to tell Admiral Orbach?'

His words startled Gorsuch. 'Oh my. I completely forgot about that.' She rubbed her face in her hands.

'He's not going to be pleased with this development,' Robert surmised.

She seemed to ponder her next words, 'Maybe, then again maybe not. Listen, there's nothing I can do about it now. If they have any know how, they'll tell him what's going on.' She looked down to her paperwork and dismissed him.

Goren walked out of her office in a bit of a daze. This had never happened to him before and he hoped that it wouldn't ever happen again. He had just started studying the information his contact had given him, and now this.

'What happened, Robert?' Mark asked, concern lacing his voice. 'And who was that person?'

'M6.'

_Oh_, Mark's mouth formed the word without speaking it. 'Never heard of that happening before,' he commented while looking at the door the M6 agent left through.

'Unless it's happened on Earth.' Goren shook his head. There was one thing he could do, and that was to tell Captain O'Neill family about the sudden change. He gathered his things and was about to leave when Mark's voice stopped him. 'Where are you going?'

'To tell the family members about the sudden change in the case,' he answered with no amount of disgust on his face. 'I just hope they understand,' he muttered under his breath.

'Good luck,' Mark said.

'Yeah, thanks,' he answered somewhat louder as he left the bullpen and headed down to the street level. Goren had no idea where to look, but he knew he did have O'Neill's home address. He decided to try that before heading to the hospital.

The house he found was one of the small starter homes located just inside the city limits. Goren thought it odd that Captain O'Neill lived in such cramped quarters. He got out and walked up the steps to the front door. Just as he raised his hand to knock it opened. Jackie jumped back in surprise as she lost her grip on what she was holding.

'I'm sorry,' she said very flustered while kneeling down to gather up the dropped paperwork.

Goren gave her a slight smile and helped her pick up what she had dropped.

'Thank you,' Jackie mumbled as she organized everything. 'How is the case?' she finally asked.

For a moment Robert hesitated, not quite sure how he should answer her question. 'Something's changed,' he started slowly. 'It's out of my hands.'

'What?! How?' Jackie's face darkened in anger as she brushed past him and started moving swiftly to her car.

'Listen,' Goren hissed as he grabbed her arm, trying to keep her from moving any farther. 'M6 took it away from me, and there's nothing I can do about it.' His words seemed to cut through her sudden anger. 'Why?' she finally asked.

'I'm not really sure.' Robert shook his head. 'But I think it might have something to do with what's going on at the compound. Plus, it was starting to look like there would not be enough evidence to even bring the case to trial.'

When it finally looked as if Jackie had come to terms with the news he took her arm and guided her towards his vehicle. 'I need to tell your sister,' he said softly.

'Yeah, I understand.' She sighed as she climbed into the passenger side. 'It just doesn't seem right.'

'Life. . .'

'Isn't fair, I know.' She paused as if remembering something, 'What's going on at the compound?'

Goren sighed. 'I was just starting to figure that out when all this happened.' He put the car in gear and pulled away from the house.

After a moment of silence, Jackie asked, 'Where are you taking me?'

'I thought. . .'

'Well,' she started with some amusement in her voice, 'since you're driving, you can take me over to the main design studio.'

_Okay. . ._ Her comment was not what he was expecting. He quickly decided to not even think about it and dropped her off at the studio then headed back over to the hospital. Once inside the sight of Captain O'Neill up and about was a pleasant surprise. She was in the NICU area feeding her daughter.

'Captain?' he asked as he hesitatingly approached the chair.

'Please, don't call me that,' Mair answered softly.

'Why's that?' Goren asked, clearly surprised.

Mair didn't quite look at him while answering, 'With my medical history, and now this? I had to take a medical retirement.'

'I'm sorry.' He really was.

'I knew it would come sooner or later. So, is there anything new with the case?'

It surprised him how easily she seemed to accept her fate. 'I'm sorry, things have changed. M6 has it now,' he explained.

Mair's lips pressed together to form a thin line. 'I see. I guess that means that I will not find out who did this to me?'

'I'm not sure. There wasn't a lot of evidence to begin with. It could have easily been thrown out as a mistrial.' Mair nodded absently, keeping more attention on the infant in her arms than with the agent talking to her.

'Agent?' Goren was pulled towards the door and out into the corridor. He turned and found it was what looked like a med tech. 'I think it's best you give her some time.'

'Okay,' he nodded while looking back into the NICU but turned away before he could see anything more. He hated doing this.

* * *

This was not expected. Orbach looked at the screen with the battered basestar. Now he had one basestar under his control, and a second one that was willingly (at least it seemed) giving them information. And what was that 'hub' they were talking about?

The Aurorian officer seemed just as confused about the hub as he had been. It was apparently an important piece of Cylon intelligence. Apollo looked at him, not knowing what he wanted to do. 'See what they're up to.'

Lee nodded and turned his attention back to the emc station. "How do we know you're not lying?"

"_We will come on board without any weapons."_

'So, what did they say?' Orbach asked as Lee turned his attention back to the Terran Admiral. 'They're willing to come on board without weapons.'

'I see.' A thoughtful look crossed the older officer's face before disappearing in a sea of calm. 'Get Morgan on the line,' he said off to the side.

'Yes, sir,' the communications officer responded smartly.

'_Morgan here.'_

'Get your marines ready. The Cylons want to parley.'

'_Yes, sir! Morgan out.'_

Jeremiah turned his attention back towards Adama. 'Tell them only one, and no centurions. If they do anything we will open fire.'

Lee nodded and turned his attention back to the emc station, "Cylon basestar, we will accept one Cylon model. No centurions are allowed. If there is any sign of deception, you will be eliminated."

The silence was permeated by the crackle coming from the emc speakers. The officer working the station worked quickly to clear it up. When he was finished clearing up the feedback a woman answered, _"Agreed."_

'They've agreed to send one Cylon model over unarmed,' Lee reported.

'Good. I'll have you and Starbuck sent out to escort the ship to the _Iwo_,' Orbach told him. 'Report back to the hanger.'

'Yes, sir,' Apollo answered smartly and left the command center.

'Sir, when are you leaving,' Izaguerre asked as they exited the command center.

'As soon as I can get my things together. I want to be over there before the Cylon arrives.'

Sergio nodded and accompanied Orbach first to his cabin and then to the hanger deck where he shuttle had been prepared. The leaving ceremony had been cut down to a minimum because of the time constraints. The only thing that was kept was the acknowledgement that he was there and leaving the ship for the time being.

'Good luck, sir.'

Jeremiah turned to look at the El Salvadorian before answering, '_Gracias_, Captain. ' A ghost of a smile crossed his face before disappearing as he climbed into the shuttle. He had work to do. Even though he never mentioned it, Orbach knew that Morgan would wait until he had made it to the destroyer before letting the Cylon ship come near the fleet.

As he settled into the copilot's seat Orbach looked over to see who would be shuttling him over. It was going to be Racer, he mused.

'Sir, it will take about ten minutes to get over to the _Iwo_,' Racer explained as the shuttle lifted off the pad and moved towards the blackness of space. The time it took for Jeremiah to get over to the destroyer was enough to gather his thoughts about the damaged Cylon basestar and his impending meeting with one of the Cylons.

'So, do you have the officer's ward room ready?' Jeremiah asked as he sat down in an available chair in Morgan's at sea cabin.

'Being prepared as we speak,' the younger man answered. 'It will be very interesting, sir.'

A wry grin crossed Jeremiah's face before answering, 'Yes, especially since there's now a civil war going on with the Cylons.'

'Oh?' This piqued the Welsh captain's interest. 'When did this start?'

'Not that long ago from my estimation. One side, probably the loosing side, wants to give us information. I want you to stay here just in case. . .'

Morgan gave him a knowing look. 'Admiral, you don't have to remind me about that. I'll have a live feed so I can see what's going on.'

'And make sure that the two escort pilots come with the Cylon. They're Aurorians.'

'Right-o, sir,' Morgan answered. Before he could say anything more, the comm. unit sounded. _'Skipper, the Cylon ship has arrived with its escort.'_

'Good.' Patrick looked up to Orbach before bringing his attention back to the comm. 'Have the two pilots accompany the group escorting the Cylon.' He disconnected the line and asked, 'Any reason why those two?'

'Those two are the only ones available for translation work. The third Aurorian is still on the _Invincible_,' Jeremiah explained as he stood up.

'Yes, sir.' Morgan stood up with him and escorted Orbach out of his office and into the corridor. 'I will escort you to the ward room. The _Iwo_ is set up completely different than the _Invincible_.'

'I don't think it'd be wise for me to get lost,' Orbach answered deadpanned.

'No, it would not be good, sir.' For a moment Morgan had the same deadpan look on his face before it finally dissolved into amusement. He waited until he could speak without letting his voice betray his amusement, 'It's not that far, sir.'

They turned another corner and quickly arrived at the officer's ward room. As they were entering the room, two guards took up station just outside. 'This will do fine,' Orbach muttered as he looked around the room.

'Sir, I'll be in my at sea cabin watching the proceedings.' After bracing himself Morgan left the room and headed back in the direction they had just come from. Minutes later more guards showed up and took up station in and outside of the ward room. They had all been briefed on what the Cylons were capable of doing, and were not taking any chances.

The arrival of the guards gave him the heads up that the Cylon was soon to arrive. And he was right when heavily armed marines made their appearance followed by what looked like a female civilian and then the two Aurorian officers. The whole group was followed by two more heavily armed marines.

'Major, Captain? Stay,' Orbach ordered the two Aurorians. 'I need your translation skills.'

'Yes, sir,' Adama answered then glanced towards Kara before bringing their attention back to the Cylon. One last glance towards the Terran admiral let them know where he wanted her to sit down.

'What are you called?' Orbach asked when they were all seated.

The Cylon looked at Lee as he translated the question. He wasn't that surprised with her reactions to the language barrier. They seemed to have figured out that they spoke a different language than the Aurorians.

"I am model Number 6, but I'm also called Natalie," she answered.

'I see.' Orbach remembered that each model had multiple copies. He thought it unusual for one to actually have a distinguishing name. 'Is it normal to have one with a unique name?' he asked Adama.

'I've never known one that had its own name besides the ones that infiltrated into our society,' Lee answered softly. 'But that doesn't mean they have given each other unique names.'

Jeremiah nodded slowly. 'Ask her what they're offering.'

Natalie watched Lee as he translated the question.

"We're tired of the fighting," she started slowly.

A bare ghost of a smile crossed Orbach's face before disappearing, _Tired of loosing_, he mused.

"And that we want this to end while the others want to continue."

'How many want the conflict to end?' Orbach was interested because he also wanted the it to end as soon as possible.

"Besides me, there are three other models that have the same feelings."

For a moment Kara scowled, then quickly hid it. She definitely didn't want the talks to go the way they were headed. The Aurorian was about to mutter something when she caught Orbach's eye and managed to calm down somewhat.

'So, what are you offering?'

For the first time Natalie seemed undecided. It only lasted a few minutes before she answered, "We're wanting protection. And in return I can get you the coordinates to the Hub."

'That's the second time you've mentioned a "hub". What is that?'

Natalie hesitated again before answering, "We don't die. When our bodies are killed we download into another body. The Hub controls all of that. If it's destroyed, then we will become mortal just like you."

_Interesting, very interesting_, Jeremiah mused.

TBC…..


	17. Chapter 17

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 17  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh  
Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

**Chapter Seventeen**

Orbach sighed as he sat down in his office. He didn't know whether or not to trust the Cylon. She, it had given them coordinates to the Hub, but the interesting thing was that it never mentioned where their homeworld was located. It lead him to believe that they really didn't have one. They could have just appropriated the original worlds the Aurorians had populated, but he wasn't too sure about it. What he needed was solid intelligence. Then there was the fact that there seemed to be a civil war going on.

The only thing he saw that he could do was to send one of the stealth frigates to the area of the Hub. He wanted to make sure that it was sound information he had received. And while that was happening he was going to make sure that he had a few of the smaller fleets join him in destroying the target.

He glanced over to a picture he had of Mair and came up with a better idea.

'Willson,' he spoke into the receiver. 'Send a message to the Goch; let O'Bryan know that he's needed for his ship's stealth abilities.'

'Yes, sir!'

It would be good to have that ship in his arsenal. He knew what she was designed to do, and for once she could be used fully to that extent. And after they check out that hub then they can probe into Cylon territory and check out just how strong, or how devastating the so called internal conflict had become.

During the time they were waiting they had started setting up a forward base on the planet below and was soon joined by a heavy duty agricultural ship that was prepared to service colonists on words that were not ready to sustain themselves. It was only a matter of time before the smaller carrier showed up with her accompanying frigate.

Orbach stepped into the command center just in time as the comms were tied together. 'Goch is on the line, sir,' the comm. officer reported.

'Good.' Jeremiah let a slight smile cross his face before picking up the comm. unit. It had been a good decision to let him take over when Mair had to transfer planetside. 'Captain, I see you made it here safely.'

'It was a bit of a bumpy ride, but no more than usual.'

'Got a job for you, O'Bryan,' Orbach started. 'I'm sending over your new orders. You should find them quite interesting.' He had the comm. officer send over the prepared message.

There was a pause then O'Bryan responded, 'Yes, I've received them, and will get to work on them right away.'

'Not yet, I want to transfer one, possibly two, officers over to the Goch for your mission.'

'Roger.'

'Have Major Adama come to my at sea cabin,' Orbach ordered as he left the command center and moved out into the ship corridor.

It didn't take too long before the Aurorian Major arrived. He let a smile cross his face before speaking, 'Have a seat, Major. And no, nothing is wrong.'

Lee looked at the older officer for a moment before sitting down.

'Major, I'm wanting to send you, and possibly another, out on the Goch.'

'Can I ask why, sir?'

'The Goch will be heading first to the 'hub' and then to check on the state of the Cylon navy.'

A thoughtful look crossed Lee's face before disappearing. 'What else is involved in this?'

'Only that you are only to check up on the state of their navy. I don't want you to engage them, O'Bryan already has his orders.'

'I see. . .sir.' Lee paused before continuing, 'I know what you're going to do, and it's not going to work.'

'Really?' The statement surprised Jeremiah. He leaned back in his chair while giving Adama a long look. 'And why is that?'

'Because we tried that before. The Cylons still attacked us.'

'Interesting,' Orbach mused. 'Apparently you didn't watch them as well as you could have.

'The Cylons were the ones that asked for a truce.'

'This time, I'm gong to make sure that that doesn't happen.' He knew he was giving the Aurorian lots of leeway in the conversation. 'And before you state again that it won't work, we've had experience, and that we know what we're doing.'

Lee seemed to acquiesce to what was planned. 'I want to have Thrace come along, sir.'

'Agreed. Now get your things together, and tell Thrace to also. I want both of you to head over to the Goch within the day. Dismissed.'

Lee stood and braced himself before leaving Orbach's office.

With that taken care of, Jeremiah went down the list of possible ships to add to the Goch's group. Each one had to have some form of stealth technology. Once he made his decision he sent his request to the Admiralty. He knew he would get them, he just had to wait for the brass's formal answer. And because they were at war, he knew the answer would come in two hours. Only then could he send out the orders for the ships to join the group.

Two hours and one walk around the ship, he got his answer. The ships he had requested were already on their way. 'Good,' he muttered as he scrolled through the different camera views he could access in his office. One showed the hanger and several pilots milling around at the moment. The arrival of two more pilots with bags in tow piqued his interest. Orbach squinted at the monitor for a moment before recognizing Adama. Although Captain Kelley was decent, but he wasn't a pilot. Jeremiah watched the scene for a few more minutes before turning the monitor off and finishing what needed to be done.

When the ships finally did arrive, he had their captains report to O'Bryan. He would be the group's commodore for the duration of the mission. Each ship had varying degrees of stealth technology. Ironically, it was the Goch that had the least amount. That would make her more of a target than any of the other ships. 'God speed, and good luck,' he muttered as he watched the ships slip into hyperspace. For a moment he had a feeling he was sending them all off to their deaths, but it disappeared as quickly. They all knew what they were doing, and also knew the dangers the mission posed.

Once things were quiet, Orbach went about having more of the smaller fleets join with him. If the information on the hub was right, then he knew there would be a nasty fight on his hands. For months now they had been steadily pushing the Cylons back. If the hub (if it was real) was destroyed, it would be devastating to the rest of the Cylons and they would quickly become a dying race if rumors were true. That was something he was not looking forward to being known for.

* * *

Gaeta looked out the window to the inky blackness of outerspace. So much had happened to him in the last couple of months that he had a hard time processing it all. Once they had reached the staging area, he was transferred to another vessel along with the other wounded Picts. Their injuries ranged from enclosed head wounds, to extremely traumatic injuries that involved major loss of limbs. At the moment he was sitting down by himself and looking out one of the windows. Propped up against the bulkhead was his cane, the last vestiges of his previous immobility.

He had to admit, the rehab doctors had been right. By the end of his second session he was already standing and was just starting to walk.

Now?

He could walk short distances without any help. Anything more he needed his cane, though his balance was getting better every day. Gaeta only hoped that when they got back he would be able to walk down the few steps while not completely loosing his balance. Throughout all of this at least he wasn't alone. Angela was also coming back, but not because of an sort of injury. The nice part about it was that he was still able to bunk with her. She wasn't showing just yet, but he could tell her clothing had become much tighter. They had to get back sooner rather than later or she wouldn't have anything she could fit into.

She came in a short time later looking exhausted. The transport was nearing Pictavian space and the officers were wanting everyone that could be in the main cabin. 'What did you do?' he asked as she sat down.

'Nothing,' she muttered. 'I can't seem to get over being so tired.' Angela laid her head back against the seat rest and closed her eyes.

A voice came over the intercom, 'If I may have your attention please. We are nearing Pictavia. If you are mobile, please make your way to the seated passenger cabin and put your restraints on.'

It was interesting, Gaeta mused as the mobile passengers slowly shuffled into the cabin. From what he had seen so far things were very different than how wounded warriors were dealt with before the Holocaust. It was almost like a passenger liner in many respects. After watching the scene for a few minutes he looked over to Glennan and reached over to buckle her in. It still amused him that she slept through it. There were things that she could easily sleep through and others that she'd react while still asleep.

A nurse's aide glanced over to make sure they were both buckled in. As he was leaving Felix finally had to ask, 'Is this natural?' Glennan's exhaustion did bother him somewhat.

'I would be worried if she wasn't exhausted,' the coffee skinned man answered.

Gaeta nodded then turned his attention back to the window. At the speed they were traveling he could actually see the approaching planet grow larger. There were lots of points of light moving around the growing blue-green orb. It's beautiful, he realized with a start. It had been so long since he had been able to watch an arrival. The last time that happened was his last time off, and the world had been Leonis. He never really wanted to admit to Angela, but there had been someone. They weren't married, but it had been getting serious enough to move to that level.

The sight of both battlestars floating serenely in orbit brought him back to the present. The smaller of the two capital ships looked old and battered, but still had that deadly look to her and brought a slight smile to his face. The Pict ships were much more streamlined than the two new additions, but they didn't seem mind the new ships.

'We're here.' Felix shook Angela's shoulder in hopes to wake her up.

'Five more minutes,' she muttered as she leaned towards his voice.

The moment they reached the edge of the atmosphere she woke up. 'Not enough sleep,' she muttered as she yawned.

'And you slept all night and had at least one nap today,' Felix said offhandedly.

'Like I said, not enough rest,' she retorted darkly.

Just as he was about to respond, the turbulence grew and the window shutters closed triggering the activation of more lights. The rough ride smoothed out after several minutes and the window shades opened once more letting natural light into the cabin. They were still high enough to actually see the curvature of the planet and the clouds below. A short time later they plunged through the brilliant white tops of the cloud layer and into rain.

As they went lower and lower the turbulence both grew and receded in intensity until they reached normal airspace and the air turbulence that came with it. They went through areas of rain and sunlight until they reached a large airfield/spaceport half-way between Avalon and Aurora.

Once they had landed Gaeta's face fell when he realized just how far away they were from the buildings. He knew he wouldn't be able to make it on his own.

'Isn't that Admiral Adama getting out of that car?' Angela pointed towards one of the vehicles that had parked within walking distance.

'I'm not sure,' Gaeta mumbled. He didn't want to hold out hope that anything like that could happen to him. They ended up waiting while letting the warriors that had more mobility issues disembark first. Even though Angela wasn't injured in any way, she was allowed to leave with Gaeta. He looked down the stairs dubiously. There're too many steps, he realized. 'I won't make it, there are too many steps,' he told the person who was just inside.

'Don't worry Major, we'll make sure you make it safely down to the tarmac.' Not for the first time Felix was both relieved at the help and embarrassed at his perceived weakness. The group took each step one by one and by the time they reached the ground he was covered in sweat and shaking with exhaustion.

"I, I have to sit down, or something," Gaeta muttered under his breath.

"You can in the car, Major," Adama answered as he took over from the aide.

Felix was so tired that he didn't even notice that it was Adama that had come to meet them on their return. The vehicle was only a few meters away, but Felix was already on the edge of exhaustion. He never expected a flight of steps to be so difficult to navigate. Just as he sat down his eyes slammed shut and his head lolled towards the door. The tech that had followed him quickly checked his vitals to make sure that he was okay. After a few moments he nodded towards the two officers then made sure he was bucked safely into his seat. 'We'll make sure your things are transferred to the boot.'

Glennan nodded then translated his words. "They're transferring our possessions to the boot, sir."

"Good." Adama looked over Felix with what could be seen as worry.

"Sir, he will be all right. The stairs were too much for him," Angela explained. "He's come a long way in two weeks."

TBC………….


	18. Chapter 18

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 18  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh

Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.  
Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Eighteen**_

Kara Thrace looked down from the catwalk and into the hanger below. In all her years, she had never expected to be _here_. For a moment she had that odd feeling of being watched. Somehow she knew it was Lee that was back there, but she ignored him. She looked over the ships below her once more. It had taken quite a while for her to get used to the Terran fighters and now that she was used to them she wondered how difficult it would be going back to the viper she originally flew.

"Don't just stand there," she muttered loud enough for Lee to hear.

"Or what?" he asked as he moved to the spot next to her.

"I'll kick your ass." She grinned amusement for a moment then it disappeared. "Did you ever think we'd reach this point?"

"No." Lee leaned up against the railing and looked at his fellow pilot before turning his attention back to the hanger below them.

Kara deadpanned, "Not big enough dipstick for the job."

For a moment Lee stood there too surprised to answer. He opened his mouth then closed it, there just wasn't a good enough comeback for that comment. "I don't think any of us realized where we would be," he finally answered.

"I know."

"I received another letter from my father. Gaeta made it back safely. Seems that he was too stubborn to ask for any help while getting off the transport," Lee mused.

"He was always too stubborn for his own good," Kara muttered. She was glad, though, that he made it back safely. Two major concussions within 6 months and the beating he took at the hands of. . .it was more than anyone would have required of him to endure. Kara started suddenly remembering something, "You mean he was walking?"

"Yes, apparently he can move around short distances without any help." Lee had to admit he was very surprised at Gaeta's quick turnaround.

"Frak," Kara muttered darkly as she pushed away from the railing. Her companion looked at her half in curiosity and half in worry at her sudden change of mood. "I just want this over with," she finally answered.

"I understand, but we got the Terrans into this mess." Lee sighed.

Kara folded her arms almost as a sign of protest. "You know, we should be the ones to end it."

Lee tried to calm her down, "But we can't, and I think the Terrans understand that."

"Why did Captain Windsor leave?" Her comment was a complete surprise and not something Lee had been bracing himself against.

"I don't know why," he finally answered. "It was abrupt. Why are you thinking about this?"

"It just bothered me," Kara finally admitted.

"You can always ask the Captain. He might know." Lee didn't realize that his tone of voice revealed his own uneasiness.

Kara looked at him for a moment, not entirely sure to ask him about what was bothering him. After a moment she sighed and turned her attention back to the Terran fighters being serviced.

'Starbuck!' a female voice called from the bulkhead door. 'There's a game starting.'

The thought of playing cards piqued the Aurorian pilot's interest. 'I am there,' she said with a grin on her face. Kara had only recently learned how to play poker and was already starting to beat some of the other players on a regular basis.

"Don't make them too poor," Lee said in amusement.

"That's no fun," she answered with a straight face, but her eyes told a different story. "Gotta go, got asses to kick," she said with a grin and gave Lee a quick kiss before leaving through the bulkhead door.

For a moment Lee watched her thoughtfully then turned his attention to the deck gang. Some were looking up in his direction and had big grins on their faces at what they just saw. He waived it off then left the catwalk and the noncoms below him. Hearing the chief order the ones still watching back to work brought a smile to Lee's face.

Once he was out in the corridor his mind went back to the comment she made about Windsor. He could tell she knew he was just as bothered by the abrupt leaving. Turning a corner he about ran into the ship's XO, Commander Toliver. 'Commander. . .sir. . .' He was still getting used to the different rank structure.

'It's all right, Major,' she answered in amusement. 'And it's "ma'am", not "sir".'

'Sorry, ma'am,' Lee answered. He looked at the dirty blonde hair officer for a moment before continuing, 'Can I ask you a question?'

She looked at him for a moment before answering, 'Go ahead.'

'Do you know why Captain Windsor left?' He cringed inwardly thinking it seemed like he was trying to find out something that was meant to be kept private.

'Because he's. . .oh you wouldn't understand would you.'

She waived him off and made to leave when he asked, 'Understand what?'

'Captain Windsor is a hereditary ruler and was called back to fulfill his role in society,' Toliver tried to explain in the simplest of terms.

That didn't seem right in Lee's viewpoint. All the rulers he had ever heard about like that were despotic in nature. He had met and gotten to know the former fleet XO and knew he wasn't at all like that.

'Major, I see you're confused,' she continued as they began to move down the corridor.

'Yes. . .ma'am,' he answered. 'The only people that I have known like that were very heavy handed in their rule.'

'Windsor cannot rule, he can only reign. He's the figurehead in his government.' As she turned the corner she threw back over her shoulder, 'Look up his name in the computer and you'll see.'

"Definitely not what I was looking for," Lee muttered at the retreating XO. With nothing else really to do at the moment Lee went off to find where Starbuck had wandered off. He found her at the same time the ship's status was raised a level. He soon found out that they had reached the "hub". The pilots quickly scrambled into their flight suits and rushed towards the hanger.

"Finally," he heard Starbuck mutter off to the side. Lee had to admit, he felt the same way. One other nice touch was that he was able to keep his flight suit. The other pilots had taken a great interest in the closed system it was able to keep. Especially since it was lightweight and felt and moved like a second skin. Terran technology wasn't as advanced, but the other pilots didn't seem to mind.

Once in the hanger only a handful of pilots were chosen to see what they were up against, while three others were tapped to form a cap around the small battlegroup.

'_Remember, you're only out for a look-see,'_ O'Bryan's voice came through the speakers.

Lee nodded absently as he used the thrusters to raise his Piranha from the deck then out of the way for some of the others. The others chosen for the look quickly followed his and the CAG's lead. Everyone knew their orders, and kept to them.

The whole mission took less than an hour and they were back taxing into the hangers. It was simple, yet elegant in its design. Whatever it was looked like it wasn't going to be that difficult to either disable or destroy. With that part of their orders now completed they started getting ready to move into another area of Cylon space. Everyone knew it was a dangerous mission, but no one wanted to leave without taking a crack at it. And Lee knew he would get to see how the Terrans used their stealth technology to the fullest. He also knew that from now on, they were to run silent. To help with that, the _Goch_ retracted her flight decks as much as possible, leaving only stubs. The action both mitigated her signature and helped streamline the ship. The other vessels now ran without any of their outer running lights on, or a squawk box that let other vessels know they were in the area. Only if you knew what you were looking for would you be able to find the ships, and hopefully the Cylons didn't know what to look for.

And just to make sure, they would not even send messages back through subspace. They couldn't take the chance of being detected.

With the emc wide open to any signal the small group slid deeper into Cylon controlled space. They were looking for any signs or signals to capture and possibly decode. At least one time during their foray, they made contact with one of the hunters that was even deeper into enemy territory. From what they had deduced, the outcome of the civil war had been devastating for both sides.

They stayed there for a month before O'Bryan decided to return to Terran occupied space. Even the two Aurorians admitted it would be good to see Kobol once more, even with it being cursed.

As they slid out of hyperspace they found more ships in and around the planet than when they had left. Subspace chatter let them know that the new base was well on its way of being fully up and running. Among the military vessels were two large civilian ships. Lee soon found out that those two civilian ships were providing the food for the rest of the fleet and the growing base. As they stayed on board the _Goch_, O'Bryan shuttled over to the flag ship to give his report on his views about the Cylons and their current conditions.

Captain Jack O'Bryan sat down in the proffered seat with a grin. He had to admit everything turned out much better than he could have even hoped for.

'I see things turned out well?' Orbach raised an eyebrow then let a smile cross his face.

'Way better than expected, sir.' O'Bryan shifted slightly and continued, 'The 'hub' is right where we were told it would be. I sent several Piranhas out to check it out. From what I've seen and the telemetry, it should only take a few missiles to neutralize it.'

'And?'

'Sir, while deeper inside enemy territory I wasn't able to pick up much with the emc, but I was able to talk to one of the hunters. From what the _Jackal_ was able to find out was that both sides were pretty much evenly matched, and that it devastated their navy.'

'Really?' Orbach pondered his options while drumming his fingers on his desk. 'Captain, you're dismissed,' he said abruptly. 'I have things to think about.'

'Yes, sir.' Jack stood and for once saluted him in the English tradition. Jeremiah stood up and returned it and escorted the captain out of the office and out into the corridors.

'Sir, did Windsor make it back?' Jack couldn't help but ask.

'Yes, safe and sound. I'll have the feed sent over for your British crew.'

'Thankyou, sir. The chaps will be very thankful for your generosity.'

oOo

Jeremiah looked out the screens and watched O'Bryan's shuttle head back over to the _Goch._ If anything, he was trying to think of a way for the Cylons to catch wind of their plans. That would be the best way for them to get at least some information. As he moved down the corridors back toward his at sea cabin he remembered what had happened back in WWII and how the Brits consistently fed the Germans fragmented information. That could be what they were doing, he thought soberly. It could be a big trap, and if he fell for it, then the navy would be completely devastated. But the hunters were reporting differently. Those ships had been in Cylon territory during the apparent civil war.

TBC…..


	19. Chapter 19

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 19  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh

Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.  
Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Nineteen**_

'Here we go,' Admiral Orbach muttered as he looked over the men and women stationed in the command center. He knew that if they wanted to end the conflict sooner rather than later, they needed to take the hub out of commission permanently. The _Jackal_ had been consistently sending encrypted messages informing him that the Cylons were more interested in fighting themselves and licking their wounds from their civil war, than in protecting what was truly important.

The order had gone out that the moment real space was reached they were to go to GQ status. As they emerged from hyperspace, they slowly fanned around the Cylon side of the hub while the frigates moved to the outside, listening for any approaching ships. Orbach had an ace up his sleeve, and he planned to use it once the Cylons attacked. And he knew they were going to. One of the Cylons on the captured basestar had committed suicide. From their 'leader' he knew that one was already informing the rest about what they had in mind.

'Arm fusion missiles,' he ordered the destroyers. They were pulling out the big guns for this operation. Jeremiah wanted to make sure that they were successful, and that this section would be completed before the Cylons decide to show up. That way, the coming conflict will be easier to deal with, especially once the Cylons realize that they can't regenerate, or whatever it was that let them continue to exist.

'Destroyers report missiles are armed and ready.'

'Good. Fire at will.'

Moments after the order went through the hi-def screens showed several of the destroyers releasing their missiles. In the inky blackness of outer space, their trails could not be seen, so the computer tracers on them that way they could follow their progress.

It was almost anticlimactic in scope. The fireballs that were created from the detonation of the missiles were snuffed out almost immediately from the lack of oxygen. What came next seemed to happen in slow motion. It was like the hub collapsed in on itself and all that was left was a dead hunk of material floating in space.

'Objective has been met,' Izaguerre reported.

'Now we wait. Have the ships turn around so we can be ready when they arrive.' Orbach didn't need to clarify who he was referring too. He let a wolfish grin cross is face. _This next battle should be interesting__,_ he mused.

Once it appeared an attack was not eminent, Jeremiah left the command center and headed back to his at sea cabin. The whole fleet remained at a heightened state of alert. For once the small attack carrier _Ddoraig Goch_ was with the main fleet. O'Bryan had requested the transfer because he wanted to be there at the end since he was there at the beginning. The two Aurorian pilots were still on board the small carrier. It was too late for them to transfer back to the _Invincible_, or the _Yorktown_. Opening up one of the airlocks in his office revealed a small alcove that held a pressure suite. Only in cases of extreme emergency, or the possibility of a ship loosing its air pressure were they required to wear it. Most, if not all, that were stationed in the command center had already put theirs on and kept the helmets within easy reach. The last time he had to wear one was during the Martok War, and that had been over 15 years ago.

After a moment he started removing his uniform and hung the clothing up on the hangers that were available and slowly put the suit on. It was similar in construction to the wetsuits that the divers used, but not as bulky as the flight suits. He had seen the flight suit's the Aurorians wore and wished for once that he had something similar. At least what he was now wearing could get the job done. Once sealed, he reached for the helmet. Like everyone else stationed in the command center, he would keep his helmet ready.

'Admiral on the bridge,' someone announced.

'As you were.' Orbach moved through the airlock and to his normal place. The marine on guard immediately closed the airlock, effectively sealing off the group in the room. It had been decided that until it was over, everyone would stay at GQ. Hopefully everything would happen sooner rather than later.

'Contact at 12 o'clock,' a fresh face lieutenant called out.

'How many?'

'I count three basestars. They all look to be in fairly good condition.' The last sentence seemed more to himself than to the rest in the command center. 'Vampire, vampire; missiles inbound.'

_Where the hell are their fighters?_ 'See if you can disable their FTL drives and systems, but leave life support up. And call in the hunters. I want them ready to attack at any time. Have the destroyers and cruisers fire at will. Disable ships if possible,. He looked and realized they were in the path of several missiles. 'Brace for impact.'

The bulk of the incoming missiles either missed the Terran vessels altogether, or were destroyed before they could even reach the ships.

When the Cylon raiders finally did appear, they seemed much more cautious in their attack. It was almost like they were afraid to do anything that would bring attention to themselves. The Terran Piranhas easily tore through the Cylons, taking them out left and right. _'They're afraid. . .'_ one pilot said over the comm. channel. It was interesting, but it also made Orbach sad at how much he ended up wasting. He also knew he would be the one known for bringing about the end of the Cylon War by destroying the hub.

'Call the hunters. I don't want to see this drag out any longer than it has too,' Jeremiah ordered. He flinched slightly when one of their ships was hit with a missile. It was only when he heard the acknowledgements from the hidden vessels did he let a slight smile cross his face.

It only got worse for the Cylons when the Terran ships appeared behind them. A few minutes later the missiles slowed to a trickle and then stopped altogether. 'We're getting a signal,' the emc officer reported.

'Get the Aurorian up here,' he ordered. For once he was glad that he still had someone that could translate what the Cylons were saying.

The officer that appeared seemed overly nervous, 'You called, sir?'

'Yes, Captain. I need you to talk to the Cylons.'

'Me?' Kelly swallowed hard.

'You are the only one here that has a solid command of the language,' Jeremiah folded his arms. He knew the officer was nervous, so he wasn't too hard on him.

'Yes, sir.' Kelly swallowed again then moved towards the emc station. The Aurorian nodded towards the officer letting him know he wanted to hear what was being said. _"We cannot leave and we have nothing left to use."_

The words shocked the Aurorian. This was the last thing he expected to hear from the Cylons. 'Sir, they're reporting that their FTL drive is disabled.'

'Good.' Orbach nodded.

'And I don't think they know how to surrender, but they seem to be trying.'

_I bet they have nothing left to go up against us._ 'Thank you, Captain.' The Admiral turned to the comm. station and continued, 'Order the Piranhas back except one squadron. Those, I want to have them make sure everything is secure.' He paused before continuing, 'I want nothing less than an unconditional surrender from the Cylons.'

Kelly nodded and turned back to the emc station. He never expected to be in this position. Truth be told, he never thought this would even happen. The Cylons had seem literally invincible during the Holocaust and hellish months afterwards. "Admiral Orbach of the Terran Navy expects nothing less than an unconditional surrender."

For a time it didn't even seem like the Cylons would not respond to the order. 'I don't want to have to go in and force the surrender,' Orbach said softly. 'Tell them that this is their only chance.'

'Yes, sir.' Kelly looked down and was just about to speak when they finally received the Cylon's answer. _"Agreed."_

* * *

"They surrendered?" Laura Roslin looked in complete surprise to her new senior aide. Carol Michaels was born and raised on Virgon and easily showed it in her mannerisms and attitudes to the others around her. The colony hadn't been as provincial as Gemanon, but it was enough.

"Yes, ma'am. We've also received word that the Cylons had been engaged in a civil war." Her eyes almost sparkled at the news. Carol hated the Cylons with a passion and didn't hesitate to let everyone know her attitudes towards them.

"Send a message to Admiral Adama. I want to meet with him today," Roslin said briskly as she looked through the ever-growing mound of paperwork. If anything, it seemed like there was more to do since they had settled on the planet. The government would have to be expanded from the skeletal structure it had survived with for the past year.

"I don't see why they're letting the Cylons survive," Carol muttered as she prepared the message.

"Carol, it's the Terran's decision. I don't like it either, but I'm letting them deal with the Cylons right now," Laura told the younger woman.

"Yes, ma'am," she answered meekly and scurried off to send the message. She knew it was a small reprimand. It would not be good for her to loose this job just weeks after she had been hired.

Once alone Laura let a smile cross her face. It had been some time since she had been able to talk privately with Bill. Their roles in society took up the bulk of their time, which left them little time to themselves to even talk. That's what she missed the most, was their nightly talks. Starting tonight, she decided, she would start those up once more.

Several hours later she heard a knock on the door. Looking up from her work she saw Carol stepping inside. "Ma'am, Admiral Adama is here."

"Good, send him in," Laura looked down to her work in an effort to hide her small smile.

"I know that look," Bill said gruffly as he sat down in one of the available chairs.

"You do?"

"You're not pleased with the Terrans decision."

"No, I'm not." Roslin shook her head. "They have no idea who they're dealing with."

"I talked to Admiral Riggins about what's now happening and why they're doing it this way, and he told me that the Cylons were nothing compared to the Martoks."

"Oh?"

"He also stated that they're going to rebuild the Cylon's infrastructure." He paused while watching her face darken with anger. "I felt the same way."

"And there's nothing we can do about it." Laura sighed while shaking her head.

TBC……


	20. Chapter 20

**Reversus Patria**  
Part: 20  
Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on  
paring: ensemble cast  
Summary: continuation of Faoi Dheireadh

Note: I do want to thank AlbertG, James Axelrad, Moggie, Becky, Sue, and Rap541 for their expertise. Without their input this story would not be what it is today. Be warned, this takes place sometime near the end of season two. Anything after Epiphanies are conjectures from the author's warped mind. . . This is a sequel of Faoi Dheireadh.  
Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. I make no money off this.

Colonial speech: " "  
English speech: ' '

_**Chapter Twenty - Epilogue**_

'Is she gone?' a woman's voice called from deeper in the house.

Alistar moved from the large parlor and into the more intimate spaces the family used on a regular basis. 'Yes, she's gone now.' The woman whose voice he heard moments before was seated on one of the couches and reading a book. She was just starting to show more of her age, though she looked well for being over eighty.

'Why now?' she asked while putting her book down.

'I'm not sure, Deidre.' Alistar rubbed the back of his neck before sitting down in the closest chair.

'It _could_ be because of the Cylons. I remember when I was growing up in Alexandria when Aunt Jackie and Uncle Robert would come and visit. Uncle Robert always complained about how the least little peep out of the Cylons and your people would panic and openly talk about leaving.' Deidre gave a slight humph while shaking her head.

Alistar gave her one of his looks. 'Yes, I know all about that. I did grow up here.'

'I just think it's rather interesting that they're coming for interviews now, especially with the dedications later today. She could have easily come last year or even ten years ago.'

'Your problem is that you don't like journalists.'

'That too.'

The sound of a door slamming and small footsteps running through the house easily let them know that the youngest members of the growing family had arrived.

'Brendan Gaeta, don't run in the house!' they heard a male voice call out, but it didn't seem to matter. The door burst open and a child approximately 5-years-old ran through and dived onto Alistar's lap.

'Don't you know not to run,' he asked the small child.

'But I wanted to see you, Granpa!' Brendan whined.

'Sorry about that, Dad,' the owner of the voice he heard earlier entered the room and picked Brendan up.

'I expected it, Daniel.' Alistar muttered just loud enough for Deidre to hear, "He's got Thrace's temperament."

"What do you expect?" Deidre answered with a grin as she put the book down and got to her feet. 'Where's everyone else?'

'Already on their way to the dedication. I told them I'd swing by to pick you up,' Daniel answered as they all left the room, leaving it empty except for the holographic pictures scattered around the room.

_Finis_.


End file.
